In the END
by bluedragon03
Summary: A fic written for my LFT Secret Santa 2014 receiver, tumblr user tinsel-babe. In the final battle with Tartarus, Face activates, breaking the seal on E.N.D. Not having a form of it's own, E.N.D. takes over Natsu's body, which leaves it up to Lucy to breaks E.N.D.'s hold on Natsu using the One Magic, Love. Rated M for violence. Spoilers through Chapter 413.
1. Chapter 1

***A/N- In honor of the countdown to Face reaching 0 at last, and all of our theorizing about who is E.N.D. is about to either be realized or replaced by what is canon, I have decided to write TWO fanfics, one where Natsu is E.N.D. and one where Lucy is E.N.D (just because I want to.) Well any way, here we go, Natsu Is E.N.D. (Also this is a present for my receiver on the LFT Secret Santa! Merry Christmas tumblr user tinsel-babe!)**

_*Lucy's POV_

It can't be, it wasn't possible. We had failed. Failed to stop the countdown, failed to stop E.N.D. All the magic in the world was going to be drained away, and there was nothing we could do about it, _unless, _we were somehow able to stop E.N.D., but how would we do that? Maybe we could do it, if we knew how, but we didn't, at least, I didn't. I glanced around, looking at the terrified faces of my nakama, and wondered how Natsu was doing. We had been separated, and I didn't know how he was doing. I was really worried, though, because although Natsu could take care of himself, but he was probably still in battle right now, and how would he survive without his magic?

Just then, I heard a scream. A loud, long, piercing cry that chilled my spine, and stopped my heart cold. I _knew _that scream. I knew it, and it called to me, telling me I needed to go help him. Everyone around me was looking around for the source of the scream, of course all of our nakama recognized his scream as well, but it was bouncing off the rubble surrounding us, and we- _they _couldn't tell which direction it was coming from. I didn't need to be able to hear where the sound was coming from, I could _feel _where he was.

Slowly, I stepped in the direction that I knew he was in- inexplicably- but still I knew if I went in that direction, I would find him. I broke into a desperate run, pushing my exhausted legs as fast as they would take me.

"Lucy where are you going?" The others cried out to me, "Master said to go back to the guild hall!"

"I have to help Natsu!" I cried, not bothering to look back.

I vaulted over piles of rubble, not bothering to go around. I didn't have time to go around. Once I underestimated the height of a pile, and my foot caught on a chunk of rock, sending me crashing to the ground. I slid for several feet, before slamming into a fallen gargoyle. Not bothering to check myself for injuries, I pushed myself to my feet and continued running. My vision was blurring, and I couldn't see for a haze of red. I kept bumping into things, and when I reached up to wipe my eyes, my hand came away scarlet. I must have cut my face on something when I fell. I wiped the blood away without slowing down.

Natsu's screams were getting closer, I could tell I was almost there. Then, as I climbed to the top of a large pile of rubble, I saw him. It was worse than I ever could have imagined.

Natsu was standing there, with his back arched and his face contorted with pain. The air around him was permeated with a dark aura. With a start I realized the aura was coming _from _him.

His eyes glowed with the evil of whatever was taking over his body. There was something under his skin, writhing and trying to get out. He clutched at his head, though I couldn't see what was happening there.

Gray was there, on the ground, and half of his body was pure black. I couldn't even begin to fathom how that had happened, but he was stirring gently and seemed to be fine. I didn't have the time to worry about his transformation right now though, because Natsu's was still underway.

Just when my eyes turned back to Natsu, his back split open, and blood sprayed from his back, except that, it wasn't blood.

"Natsu!" I cried out, beginning to descend the pile of rubble, but he screamed my name.

"Lucy! No! Stay where you are! Get away!" He cried.

What I thought had been Natsu's blood was actually, _wings. _Great, red, _dragon _wings. As I watched, horns began to emerge from between his fingers, growing right out of his head. He cried out in agony, and I screamed too. _What was happening to Natsu? _His skin began taking on a scaly appearance, and a red hue.

He looked like a demon with his face contorted in pain and his eyes glowing red, not to mention the horns and _wings. _His appearance was something out of nightmares. I watched, weak kneed and helpless as my best friend turned into a monster, then it hit me. _Natsu is E.N.D. _

_No, _I told myself, _it can't be Natsu. Natsu can't be E.N.D he just can't! _But the evidence was right in front of my eyes and I couldn't deny it for much longer. Natsu was still writhing and screaming. _I have to do something! _I thought, _But what? _

"Natsu!" I cried, "Natsu can you hear me? You have to fight it!" He screamed loudly and lashed out at the nearest piece of rubble to him. It turned to dust when his fist struck it. Gray stirred at the sound and looked up, his jaw dropped.

"Natsu!" He cried, trying to push himself up off the ground.

"Stay away!" Natsu growled, "I can't control my body, Gray! Get Lucy outta here!" Just then, the aura around Natsu seemed to explode. It drew itself up into an orb around him, then shot into the sky in a column of darkness. The column dissipated, leaving just Natsu, with the air around him glowing faintly. Except that it wasn't Natsu anymore. I felt the link that attached us snap, and I felt my heart break as I realized he was lost to me. _No, _I thought, _I won't give up. Not yet. _

E.N.D. looked down at Gray, and laughed at the sight of him, struggling to get up off the ground, covered in blood and bruises. He walked over and stepped on Gray's back, pushing him back down to the ground, laughing maniacally. Gray cried out in pain, and I knew I had to save him.

"Gray!" I cried, and I was surprised when my voice broke. A sob racked my body, and I realized that I was crying. I reached for my belt, and then stopped. Who could I call to fight Natsu, I mean _E.N.D.? _I had already used Loke, and Virgo, and they needed time to recover in the celestial spirit world. Taurus was still recovering as well. All of my power houses were out of the picture for now. Then it occurred to me. What if I didn't defeat Nat-E.N.D., but instead I saved Natsu? But how could I do that? So I summoned the wisest spirit I know, Old Crux.

"Crux, I need you to figure out how to defeat E.N.D. and save Natsu!" I told him, reaching for the key of the second smartest spirit I know, who also happened to be pretty good at fighting. "Open, gate of the Goat, Capricorn!"

"How may I help you, Lady Lucy?" He asked.

"Capricorn, I need you to help me stall Na-E.N.D. while Old Crux searches for a way to save Natsu!" Capricorn nodded, and we both took a step forward, but my vision blacked out briefly, and one of my knees collapsed. I fell to the ground, and Capricorn gave me a worried look. I hadn't regained enough magical energy to maintain two gates, even if one of them was a silver gate.

"Perhaps you should wait here for Master Crux, while I stall E.N.D.," He suggested. I shook my head and he helped me to my feet. My vision blurred, but I ignored that. Now was not the time to rest, it was the time to fight.

"No, I won't leave you alone to fight E.N.D., not even for a second." Capricorn helped me down the pile of rubble so that I wouldn't fall. When we reached the bottom I thanked him quietly and prepared for battle. I slowly pulled my whip from my belt, and opened my mouth to shout at E.N.D. and get his attention.

Meanwhile, Gray wasn't doing well. E.N.D. was beating him badly. He was kicking, punching, and blasting Gray without even leaving enough space in between attacks for Gray to even cry out in pain. It was horrible to watch, Gray was helpless, he had used up all of his magic, not to mention whatever was going on with his skin changing colors. I was reminded forcibly of the brawls Natsu and Gray used to have all the time in the Guild Hall, but this was nothing like those fights, _and that's not Natsu, _I reminded myself.

"Hey, E.N.D.! Why don't you stop beating up on that weakling who can't even stand, and come and fight a real wizard?" I asked, hoping he would rise to the challenge.

"Oh, so you think you're a match for me?" He asked. It was Natsu's face and mouth, but it wasn't his voice that spoke. This voice was horrible and terrifying, it sounded _evil. _

"Lucy, what do you think that you're doing?" Gray croaked, struggling to get up, "You're too tired, you're no match for him! That's not Nat- AH!" He screamed when E.N.D. turned around and kicked him in the gut, sending Gray flying.

"_I _was talking to the girl, _Gray,_" he spit out the words mockingly, and I knew from that that E.N.D. had access to all of Natsu's memories, and he planned on using them against us. He turned back to me.

"Anyway, pretty lady, do you think that you can take me? Because it looks to me like you are barely any better off than that boy over there." He gestured over his shoulder at Gray, who was now laying motionless on his stomach. I pushed away my worry for him, focusing on the task at hand, I had to make it until Old Crux figured out how to save Natsu.

"Oh, definitely," I said, trying my best to sound cocky, and I think I pulled it off, because E.N.D. raised Natsu's eyes brows appraisingly. "I'm not as weak as that pathetic whelp over there!" _I'm sorry Gray, _I thought. When all of this was over and done with, if we both made it out alive, he was going to _kill _me, that is if he could hear me right now. I prayed he couldn't. "I'm the most powerful celestial spirit mage there ever was!" I said inventing wildly.

"Is that so?" E.N.D. asked, approaching me slowly, but I held my ground, looking defiantly into the glowing eyes that looked _nothing _like Natsu's playful black ones.

"Yes, you weren't here yet," I said, thinking hard, doing my best to keep up my cocky act. "Just a while ago, I opened _three _Golden Gates at once, not to mention that I summoned _the Celestial Spirit King," _I said, emphasizing the last part, trying to make it sound like a big deal, which I suppose it was.

"Hmmm," E.N.D. said, placing his hand on his chin and thinking. "That _is_ a big deal, but this Natsu who I'm possessing doesn't know anything about it."

"That's because he, and the rest of the guild, were unconscious, I fought off all of Tartarus by myself," I said. I knew I was stretching the truth, but hopefully _Natsu _didn't.

"That seems to fit in with the boy's memories," E.N.D. said, and I breathed a sigh of relief internally. "So go ahead," he said.

"Go ahead and what?" I asked earnestly.

"Summon three Golden Gates, or the Celestial Spirit King, I don't see why I shouldn't have a little fun before fulfilling my duties." _Crap, _I thought. _My plan backfired, now he wants to fight the Celestial Spirit King! I'm all out of power, I couldn't open another Gate if I wanted too! How do I get out of this one? _In order to buy myself some time, I laughed out loud, my brain still working madly. E.N.D. looked affronted, like I had insulted him or something.

"Why should I?" I asked, struggling to keep up my front, "I can defeat you on my own power!" _Good one! _I congratulated myself.

"Yeah, right," He replied, laughing, "You can barely stand, much less defeat me!" he said. I glanced briefly at Capricorn, who was awaiting my instructions, and lashed out with Flueve d'etoiles. E.N.D. raised his arm and blocked the attack, which I had been expecting. He looked rather surprised when it wrapped around his arm. I pulled hard on the handle, which yanked a startled E.N.D. to the side, leaving him wide open for Capricorn's hard kick to his side, but at the last moment, he spun, yanking me along by the whip, and punched Capricorn in the face, sending us flying in opposite directions. I grinded to a halt about 30 feet away from E.N.D.

As I struggled to stand I looked up to see E.N.D. advancing on Capricorn, who was laying on the ground. He had been slammed into a large piece of rubble by the looks of it. He was winded, but he stood up, facing down E.N.D. valiantly. _I shouldn't have summoned him, _I thought desperately, as I watched E.N.D. close in on Capricorn, _he's not cut out for this. He's not one for fighting, he's not a battle oriented spirit. If I sent him home right now, maybe I could summon Loke. _But I knew that was out of the question. Loke would be in no shape to fight anymore, and if I sent Capricorn home, I wouldn't be able to summon anyone else anyway.

As I watched, trying to stand, E.N.D. pulled his leg back for a kick, and I knew I had to act. I summoned forth all of my strength, pushed myself onto my knees, and lashed out with my whip again, this time catching E.N.D. around the ankles, and pulling as hard as I could. He wasn't expecting that, he probably assumed that last attack had done me in, so when my whip wrapped around his ankle and yanked his foot out from underneath him, he fell face first onto the ground. Capricorn took advantage of his helplessness, and kicked him ferociously in the head. I winced, when we saved him, it was Natsu that would feel that, not E.N.D. Capricorn bent over and lifted up E.N.D. by Natsu's scarf, _when did he get that back? _I wondered briefly.

I struggled to my feet as Capricorn punched E.N.D. in the stomach, hard. I could hear his ribs cracking from where I stood, and I almost threw up. _Maybe I underestimated him, and Capricorn really is cut out for battle. _I began to limp over to where they were, determined to help Capricorn subdue him in some way, but Capricorn's face changed from determination to fear as E.N.D. flared up with _black flames. _I had never seen them in person, Natsu had told me about the flame god slayer, but I could never picture them until now. E.N.D. pulled back his fist in a move I recognized at once.

"Capricorn, get out of there!" I cried, running as fast as I could with my hurt leg, but I didn't make it.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist," E.N.D. said sarcastically. Capricorn was sent flying back, and he slammed into a crumbling wall.

"I'm sorry, Lucy," he said, as he vanished into a glow of warm light. My last hope had been defeated. I was alone. All of my spirits were worn out, I had none left to help me, except, _maybe. _Maybe I could summon Gemini, but did I have enough power for that, and did Gemini? Were either of us fit for what I had planned?

I reached slowly for my keys as E.N.D. turned around and said, "Is that all you got? Is that your strongest spirit? Or are all of the others too tired to join us?" He was mocking me now, and I could no longer pretend to be fit for fighting. My vision was blurring again, and I could barely stand up. I could perform the spell without Gemini, but I doubt I had the energy for even that.

He approached me slowly, knowing that he could take his time killing me, that I had no fight left, but a cry from our left startled both of us. Old Crux seemed to understand the gravity of the situation, because he didn't go on one of his long explanations, he merely shouted one phrase.

"Miss Lucy, USE THE ONE MAGIC!" And then E.N.D. attacked him, sending him back to the Celestial Spirit world. _The one magic, the one magic, that's it! Why didn't I think of it before? _Since E.N.D. was a force summoned by evil, the One Magic should be able to defeat him.E.N.D. seemed to be following my thought patterns, because he scoffed.

"The one magic! What useless advice. Lucy, do all your spirits hate you, or are they as stupid as you are?" E.N.D. asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked, with as much venom as I could muster.

"I'll admit, I'm rather impressed that you are still on your feet. I can see why my vessel has such great respect and faith in you, even now, he continues to fight me, and he is cheering for you, 'You can do this Lucy, just use that thing Gii-chan Crux said!' What a fool," he scoffed again. _So Natsu has been aware this whole time, _I thought. I raised my voice so I could be sure Natsu would hear me.

"Natsu, keep fighting this creep! I'm going to use the One Magic to save you!"

"Don't be stupid," E.N.D. said, "The One Magic is a myth, a fairy tale told to children, it doesn't exist, and even if it did, no one would know what it is." He struck out, hitting me in the stomach, and sending me flying backwards. I hit some piece of rubble and slid to the ground, but I struggled back up, only managing to get on my knees. "'Stop hitting Lucy you bastard!' He's shouting now."

"Have you ever met Horologium, perchance?" I asked, still on the ground. The way he parroted what Natsu was saying reminded me of him. I coughed, and a spray of red splattered across the dusty ground.

"What?"

"Never mind," I forced out. My voice sounded strained, weak. "But you're wrong."

"What? What do you mean?" He asked, looking confused, and his expression was so Natsu-ish, that I actually laughed, well to be precise I laughed once, then coughed up more blood.

"I mean you're wrong. _I _know what the one magic is," I was trying to sound impressive, but my low, strained voice made that pretty much impossible.

"Don't be ridiculous," He snorted, but I noticed he was eyeing me more suspiciously now. I pushed up to my feet, and straightened to the best of my abilities. I took a step forward, and almost fell again, which is when it happened. A flash of worry flitted across Natsu's face, it was there and gone in an instant. I wouldn't have noticed it if I didn't know Natsu's face so well. The sight gave me the energy to stand completely straight, and even flash a cocky grin, although the effect probably wasn't too great, because my teeth were undoubtedly stained red with my own blood. Natsu was fighting, and if his worry for me was showing on his face, _he was gaining ground._

"I know what the one magic is!" I taunted. The sudden change in my demeanor seemed to alarm him.

"Then what is it?" He asked, and he sounded surprisingly like a small child arguing with his friend. I giggled, which proved to be a mistake, as I just ended up hacking up more blood.

"I'm not going to tell you!" I said as I wiped the blood off of my mouth and chin, "It's what I'm going to defeat you and save Natsu with." I took a deep breath, preparing myself for what I was going to do next. E.N.D. was talking, and didn't notice.

I ran at E.N.D. full throttle, slinging my arm back and striking with my whip. He blocked with his arm which I grabbed as I slammed into his chest. Without giving him time to react, I stood on the tips of my toes, and kissed him.

The One Magic, _love. _

At first E.N.D. was so surprised he didn't know what to do. If the situation wasn't so dire I might've laughed, the poor thing, trying to kill a girl only to have her kiss him. Talk about weird.

E.N.D. didn't stay surprised for long, though. He took his long, sharp claws and dug them into my back. I cried out, but didn't move from where I was. I let go of his wrist and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck, and refused to let go, even as he raked his claws up my back, tearing the flesh into ribbons.

My vision was blurring, my strength evaporating, but I still didn't let go.Whether it was from blood loss, exhaustion, or pain, or more likely a mixture of all three, I was about to pass out, but I refused to let go. This was going to work, _it had to. _I felt E.N.D. stiffen, and his hand began to slow down, which wasn't a necessarily good thing, it made the cutting seem so much more painful, but I almost cried in relief. _It was working! Natsu was gaining ground! He was fighting back, and he had a chance of winning! _I tightened my grip on Natsu, _not E.N.D. _and his claws stopped cutting into me, which was a _very _good thing.

Something wet hit my face, and I realized Natsu was crying, and I felt him pulling his claws slowly out of my back, like he was having a hard time doing it. He placed his hands gently on my shoulders, like he was consciously trying not to cause me anymore pain. I peeked out of one eye, and saw that his eyes were flicking between his own playful black ones, the red glow of E.N.D. and back again. I slid one of my hands into his hair and kissed him harder. _Come on Natsu! _I thought hard, trying to somehow tell him telepathically that he could do it. I heard a great cry over head, and I looked up to see Igneel deal a fatal blow to Acnologia, who plummeted to the ground, and didn't stir. **(I wrote this before the chapter where Acnologia was defeated was published)** Igneel let out a great shout of triumph, and Natsu stiffened. I saw his black eye, looking up at his Dad, with tears in his eye, and the red eye of E.N.D. looking to the sky with rage.

Igneel glanced down at us, and his eyes widened. Whether it was because his son now had _horns and wings_ or because I was kissing him I wasn't sure maybe both. He flapped down to the ground, and landed near us on a large pile of rubble. We made eye contact, and he nodded his massive head. I looked back at Natsu, who was obviously winning the fight. The sight of his father had strengthened his resolve, and the red eyes were only flashing now. The scaly flesh was fading away back to Natsu's normal, _human skin, _and the wings and horns were crumbling. I looked back at his eyes, and realized he was looking at me, with an unreadable expression in his black eyes. I felt the heat rush to my face, and closed my eyes. I felt like I had to keep kissing him until E.N.D. was gone completely, but I was _not _about to look the old Natsu right in the face right now. I would probably never look him in the face again. My senses were becoming duller, and I realized my blood loss was catching up with me. I felt what might have been Natsu's hand in my hair, and I felt a pressure on my lips that hadn't been there before.

The whole thing probably only took a minute, but it felt like an eternity. _That's it, _I thought hazily, _I'm quitting the guild, I can never show my face there again, not after this. _I felt my legs give out from underneath me, but Natsu caught me. I opened my eyes to see if we had done it, if Natsu and I had beaten E.N.D. but my vision was so dark I might as well have kept them closed. Vaguely I heard Natsu's voice calling out, "Lucy," before I slipped into oblivion.

***A/N- Hey, tinsel-babe, if you're reading this you're probably thinking, "This isn't romantic at all!" Well don't worry, It will be, there will be more chapters to come, I was going to do it in one big long one-shot, but then I thought, why not make it chapters? I may or may not have another chappie up by Christmas, but I wanted to have this up before the new chapter released. I'll do the Lucy one after I finish this one! Merry Christmas!**


	2. Chapter 2

***A/N- Chappie 2 of the story I wrote for LFT- Secret Santa! Merry Christmas to everyone who read, followed, or favorited this story! Don't forget to review and let me know what you think! I love you all!**

"Natsu, you need sleep. Go home! If Lucy wakes up, we'll come and get you!" I heard a woman's voice say, _Erza, _my mind registered vaguely. I felt like my head was filled with cotton.

"The hell I will!" I heard him reply. I felt a weight on my chest that was making it hard to breathe. I cracked one eye open to see what was causing it, but my vision was blocked by a blurry mass of bright blue. I closed my eye again and slipped back into unconsciousness.

I wasn't sure how long it had been since the last time I was awake, but it was dark. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness , listening carefully to the sounds around me. I heard a snore that could only belong to Natsu, and I could feel his hair brushing my arm. As my eyes adjusted, I saw that he was covered head to foot in bandages. I looked to my left and saw Gray asleep on a bed next to mine, and Juvia was asleep with her head on his bed. She, too, was covered in bandages. I would have panicked, waking up in a strange place, but I had Natsu by my side, so I knew I was safe.

_Where am I? _I wondered. I peered out of the darkened windows, but all I could see were a few trees through the darkness. I glanced around the room; there were lots of potions bottles lined up on the shelves, and the smell of antiseptic hung in the air. _I must be in Porlyusica's cabin, _I thought.

Natsu let out a particularly loud snore, catching my attention. He was sleeping restlessly, tossing and turning his head, as well as whimpering. As I watched him, he whimpered slightly and turned his head towards me, allowing me to see his expression. His face was screwed up like he was in pain, and he mumbled something.

"Lucy."

I looked at him piteously, feeling my cheeks flush at the realization he dreaming about me. He must be exhausted from the whole E.N.D. ordeal. I ran my hand through his hair, just to re-assure myself that his horns were gone. At my touch Natsu quieted slightly, and leaned into my hand. I could feel myself blushing even harder, and I was glad no one was awake to see it. I closed my eyes and absentmindedly stroked Natsu's hair until I fell asleep again.

The first thing I became aware of when I woke next was the horrible pain in my back and shoulders. I whimpered, and I heard the general chatter in the room go silent. Juvia even stopped fawning over Gray.

"Lucy?" I heard a young girls voice ask. _Wendy. _I groaned in response.

"Lucy!" Erza exclaimed. I opened my eyes, but shut them again immediately, and I moaned again to show my displeasure. It was _bright _in here. I opened my eyes again, slowly this time, and the room finally came into focus. Everyone was completely covered in bandages. I probably was too, but I couldn't see myself. I looked over at Erza and was unsurprised that she wore her usual armor over her bandages.

"Natsu…" I croaked. My throat was _so _dry.

"Is safe," Erza said. "He wouldn't leave your bedside, not even to sleep or eat, so I had to knock him out to get him to rest." I giggled, which hurt, but I didn't cough up blood again, which was a good sign. Erza walked over to a table that had a pitcher and some glasses on it. She poured water into one of the glasses and brought it over to me, I tried to sit up, but she pushed me back down onto the bed, which hurt a_ lot. _I gasped in pain, and Erza withdrew her hand quickly. "Wendy, I think your spell has worn off," she said.

"Okay, I'll do it again," Wendy sprang off of her stool and held her hands over me. They glowed as she murmured some spell, and the pain eased.

"Thanks," I coughed, looking at Erza for water. She lifted my head, then help the cup to my lips. I drank half the glass in two gulps before she took it away again.

"Careful, don't want to make yourself sick." She pulled up a chair and sat down. "Natsu is outside with Igneel. We trusted him to keep Natsu out of our hair for a while." Erza smiled at me, she looked surprisingly good, besides being covered head to foot in bandages. She had always been one to bounce back quickly. I returned her smile, glad she was feeling alright.

"I'll go and get him! He'll want to know that you're awake!" Wendy said helpfully, but I shook my head.

"No, he needs to catch up with his father, give him some time," I said. Wendy glanced at the others, unsure. "But I'm sure he would want us to tell him right away, he was so worried about you!"

"Well if he gets mad, just tell him it was my decision, he can take it up with me."

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Lucy," Gray said. "I've never seen Natsu as upset as he has been the last few days. He's been crying, and not just when we brought you in, but all the time. He just cries and stares at his hands for ages. He says he can still smell your blood on them, no matter how many times he washes them."

I stared open mouthed at Gray. His face was grim, and he had this troubled look in his eyes, and I knew he was telling the truth, and that he was worried. If Natsu was in bad enough shape to make Gray worry about him, then he was in _bad _shape. I was speechless. Of all the time I had known Natsu, I had seen him cry all of twice. Once when Igneel came back and one when, _oh, yah. _Once when Future Rouge killed the me from the future. I looked out the window, thinking, but raised voices outside caught my attention.

"Natsu, get back here! I told you that they would come and get you if she woke up!"

"No way in hell, Dad!" Natsu said, "Let me go! I _heard _her voice! I _know _she's awake!" Natsu cried. There were a few resounding crashes that had to be Igneel's footsteps.

"Boy, it's your imagination, _again. _You've done this three time now!" I giggled. It was cute to listen to Natsu argue with his father.

"_SEE!" _Natsu cried, as if in response to my laugh, "she laughed! I _know _you heard it too, Old Man! Unless in the last seven, I mean 14, years your hearing has gone bad."

"My hearing is as good as it ever was, you disrespectful runt!" Igneel said, and I laughed out loud. A disrespectful runt, was he? I had never heard anyone talk to Natsu like that and get away with it. "Oh, _oh,_ now that time I did hear it," Igneel said, and Natsu shouted in triumph.

"See, I told ya! Now put me down before I make 'ya," Natsu said.

"What was that?" Igneel asked. He sounded halfway between irritation and amusement.

"I said put me down, you old good-for-nothin' dragon or I'll make you!"

"I see someone's just looking for an ass-kickin' today!" Igneel said, and I lost it. _That _has got to be the funniest thing I'd heard in a long time. I laughed so hard it hurt my many broken bones, but I didn't care, it felt _good _to laugh after everything that happened. Besides all of the crippling pain that is.

"Dadt, le' me 'o!" Natsu said, as if through a mouthful of food. _He didn't, _I thought.

He did.

"Oww, ow, ow! Alright, kid, you didn't have to bite me!" This time everyone laughed loudly. A loud thump and the sound of Natsu scrambling on the ground floated in through the open window.

"Incoming," I said, right before Natsu busted the doors down, and came flying at me.

"Lucy!" Natsu and Happy cried together. They rushed at me. I braced for impact, but Erza had other ideas.

"Settle down," she said , grabbing Happy's tail, and knocking Natsu to the floor. "Lucy's hurt, so you can't just jump on her, no matter how happy you are she's alright." I silently thanked Erza for stopping Natsu while a sound that could only be described as _happy thunder _shook the building. I looked out of the doors, which were now each barely attached to the doorframe, to see Igneel laughing happily.

"Well it seems that you sure have a hold on managing my son," he said merrily.

"Erza has controlling Natsu down to an art!" Wendy exclaimed cheerfully, and Igneel laughed again.

"Is that so? Well it seems I owe her then for managing him in my absence," he said, watching as Erza scolded Natsu, now for breaking down Porlyusica's door.

"She has been very kind allow us to stay in her home, and to take care of Lucy, and THIS," she gestured to the broken doors, "is how you repay her?" Natsu looked guiltily at the doors. "You are going to fix these doors as soon as possible, and give Porlyusica a full apology, do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am," Natsu said, pouting.

"Can you teach me that trick?" Igneel asked, "He's shown you more respect in one sentence than he's given me in a lifetime" He said, and Erza laughed.

"I don't think that's true, it's obvious that Natsu respects you greatly, after all, you were the only one who could keep him out of here before Lucy woke up," Erza said, and I felt myself blushing. I looked at Natsu, who was sitting with his arms and legs crossed, pouting on the floor.

"Oh come on Natsu, don't make that face. They only pick on you because they love you," I said, and Natsu perked up instantly.

"Lucy!" He exclaimed, as if he had forgotten I was in the room. He probably had. He tried to get up and scramble to my bed, but Erza seized him by the scarf, and he didn't go anywhere.

"What did I say, Natsu?" Erza scolded, looking at him sidelong, "Lucy is badly hurt, and you can't be rough with her." Natsu gulped and stood completely still until Erza looked away and let go of his scarf. He bolted to the bed, but stopped just short of touching it. Happy however, had no such restraint, and he slammed into my chest, causing a spasm of pain to shoot throughout my body. Some of my ribs were obviously broken. I tried to stop my own cry of pain so that Happy wouldn't get in trouble, but it only half worked. I didn't scream, but I made this weird strangled sound that got Erza's attention immediately.

"I said," Erza growled, seizing Happy and walking to the door while Natsu and I watched helplessly, "not to be rough with her!" She wound up like a pitcher, and flung Happy out of the open door, and he disappeared into the distance, leaving a little winking star behind. Igneel looked after him, looking slightly concerned.

"Aren't you worried he might get hurt?" He asked, staring at the place where Happy disappeared into the sky.

"No," Natsu said, "This happens all the time, he'll be back by nightfall." He grinned boyishly. "I wonder where he ended up this time?"

"He's probably crashing through the roof of Sabertooth or something crazy like that right about now," I guessed.

"Nah," He shook his head, "Sabertooth's in the other direction." He looked out the door, his eyes scanning the mountain range beyond the forest.

"What about Lamia Scale then?" I asked, "Or Mermaid Heel?"

"Well if it's Mermaid Heel then we'll never see him again," Erza said, leaning against the wall, "Miliana keep him forever."

"He'll be alright," Natsu said, stretching, "Miliana will take good care of him." He turned back and looked at me, his whole demeanor changed. His face got this terrible look on it I've never seen there before. It might've been guilt and remorse. I tried to reach out and take his hand, but pain shot down my back, and I laid my hand back down. "How're you feelin', Luce?"

"As good as can be expected, considering all that's happened." All of the sudden, I remembered Aquarius, and tears sprang to my eyes and began pouring out before I could stop them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" He stumbled, "What's the matter all of the sudden?"

"My-my keys," was all I could manage.

"They're right here!" Natsu said, turning around and grabbing them off the table. He laid them in my hand and curled my fingers around them, but I just shook my head.

"N-not all," I stuttered. I couldn't bring myself to say it, because saying it made it real, and if it was real then I lost a lifelong friend. I wasn't ready to handle that.

"What do you mean? Sure they are, look," He picked them back up and began to check off spirits, and I was surprised to learn that he recognized them all by their keys. I hadn't realized he had been paying so much attention.

"Look, here's Plue, and Horologium, and Crux, and that compass guy,"

"Pyxis," I said immediately.

"Yeah, and here's Loke, and Taurus, and Virgo, and Capricorn, and Cancer, hey his looks like a crab. There's Aries, and Gemini, oh I like his, it's cool lookin'. Here's Sagittarius, and Scorpio, and Aquari-oh," he said, stopping dead when he ran out of keys. I started crying even harder. "Lucy, did something happen to Aquarius?" He asked gently, setting the keys down on the bed. I nodded, but didn't say anything, I was crying too hard to respond. Natsu scooted his chair closer, took my hand in his, and used the other to stroke my hair soothingly. If I hadn't been so upset I would have been worried about how weird and sweet he was acting.

"Lucy sacrificed Aquarius's key to save the guild," a voice said from my other side.

"Loke," I said trying to sit up, but Natsu pushed me back on my pillows. "Loke, you should go home, you need to rest after that battle, you fought hard, and you shouldn't push yourself right now," I said tearfully.

"She sacrificed Aquarius's key? What does that mean?" Natsu asked quietly.

"It means she can't summon Aquarius anymore," he said gently, "but she's not dead, she's fine, actually," he added quickly, "that's what I came to tell you Lucy." I looked up at him, sniffling.

"Really?" I said, trying to sit up again, but Natsu pushed me back down. Loke nodded.

"She asked me to tell you, and these are her words not mine," I nodded impatiently, waiting to hear her message. "She asked me to tell you to 'stop crying like a little baby or you'll never get a boyfriend'"

"Of _course _she did!" I said, "even when she's trying to be nice she's being awful!" I half laughed, half sobbed. "Don't tell her I said that, she'll kill me!" I said, before realizing that she couldn't hurt me anymore if she couldn't get to me. It was a surprisingly bad thought.

"I suppose she can be rather aggressive sometimes," Loke said, laughing nervously, unsure of whether or not I was going to break down again.

"_Rather _aggressive? _Sometimes?" _I repeated incredulously. "Are we even talking about the same person?" Loke chuckled for real now, seemingly satisfied I wouldn't have another mood swing.

"Well, maybe she was harder on you than the rest of us," Loke said. I snorted.

"That's an understatement."

I tried to reach up to wipe my face, but my shoulders screamed in protest, so I gave up. Seeing my struggle, Natsu reached over and used the end of his scarf to wipe my face off, which sort of freaked me out.

_Why is he being so nice? _Not that he had ever been mean to me, but he had never been _sweet _like this before. And he was using the scarf that Igneel gave him, too, and he never would have done that before.

When he wasn't looking I mouthed at Loke,_ what is happening? _Loke just shrugged, as confused as I was, but behind him Gray's face was grim. I supposed once Natsu left or fell asleep, if that ever happened, he would tell me what was wrong.

As if Natsu acting so weird wasn't bad enough, Loke decided that the best way to make me feel better was to flirt with me. Even worse was that Loke was here on his own power, so I couldn't send him home. Natsu sat quietly at my side, which sent off all sorts of red flags, when was Natsu ever quiet, while Loke made increasingly ridiculous declarations of love and proposals of marriage. Everyone else was ignoring him. Every now and then Wendy would ooh or aah at a particularly fantastic showcase. I wished she wouldn't, it was only encouraging him.

I looked up at Loke coldly, waiting for him to finish his latest speech. He caught my eye in the middle of the most _dramatic _part, and he began to wind it down a bit. Eventually he sat down quietly and I breathed out a sigh of relief. I could only take so much of Loke's wild antics.

"So how is everyone? Are they recovering well? Taurus and Aries, how are they feeling?"

"Everyone is alright, Taurus and Aries are a little shaken up from what happened, but they're tough, they'll recover."

"Speaking of recovering," I said, "you should be home, resting, not using your own energy to spend time here."

"If you're so worried, just send him back home," Igneel said.

"I can't," I told him, narrowing my eyes at Loke, "He's here on his own power, so I can't force his gate closed."

"I'm fine Lucy, I've already recovered completely, it's you I'm worried about. You took some serious damage from E.N.D. Capricorn was pretty worried about you, too. He and Crux asked me specifically to come and be sure you were alright."

"Geez, I'm alright! Tell everyone to stop freaking out. I'm more worried about all of you!"

"Of course you are, it's in your nature." He said.

Loke stayed for a while longer before he left, saying he needed to get home to be sure that everyone wasn't at each other's throats. After he disappeared I sighed in relief.

"Sometimes I miss when he was avoiding me like the plague, you know," I said, to general laughter. "He's exhausting," I yawned.

I turned and looked at Natsu, he looked awful. He was wrapped head to toe in bandages, much like the rest of us, but one of his feet was in a cast, and he kept running his hands through his hair and flexing his back like he still expected the horns and wings to be there.

"How are you feeling, Natsu?"

"Me?" He said, looking surprised. "I'm fine, this is nothing." I raised my eyebrows at him.

"It sure looks like something to me," I replied. He shook his head.

"No, I'm fine, but how are you feelin'? How's your back?" He asked gingerly. His face was a mask of remorse, and I knew he blamed himself for my injuries.

"This is nothing, you should see the other guy, he got his butt kicked" I said jokingly, and Natsu smiled weakly.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me! I've got a bone to pick with you, Lucy!" Gray exclaimed suddenly. Juvia looked at me and said something crazy about love rivals, which I ignored. Her eyes were red and puffy, she had been crying too. I wonder why?

"What is it?" I asked.

"'I'm not as weak as that pathetic whelp on the ground over there'," he said in a high pitch voice. He was obviously trying to do an impression of someone, but I couldn't figure out who.

"What are you talking about, Gray?" I asked, perplexed. Maybe Porlyusica had given him some weird medicine that made him confused.

"What do you mean, what am I talking about?" He exclaimed, swinging his legs over the side of his bed so he could look directly at me. "I'm talking about all that shit you talked about me when you were fighting E.N.D.!" I thought back to my battle with E.N.D. It had all happened so fast, it was sort of blurry. I vaguely recalled E.N.D. stomping on someone. Someone that was helpless, oh it _was _Gray! I remembered now! Gray had been on the ground, completely exhausted.

"Oh, I remember!" I said, "You were awake, then? I was hoping you didn't hear any of that."

"Well I did! What the hell did you mean by, 'I'm much stronger than that pathetic whelp!'? I'll take you on anytime!" He said, pulling his hands back into the maker magic gesture.

"No thanks," I said, alarmed. "I was just trying to protect you! E.N.D. would have killed you, so I had to keep his attention by acting cocky. I didn't mean any of that stuff!"

"Yah, sure, you know they say that when you're under a lot of pressure you show your true self! You really think I'm weak don't you!" He cried, but I could tell he wasn't really that upset about it, he was just picking on me.

"Leave her alone, Gray," Natsu said. We all turned to look at him. He was giving Gray a mutinous look. "She saved your sorry ass, so just shut up and thank her for it!"

"You want to fight you stupid pyro?" Gray said, taking on his battle stance again.

"No, I'm not going to fight someone who's half dead already!" Natsu said, and I squeaked before I could stop myself. Natsu looked down at me when I did. "What sort of sound was that Lucy?" He asked. I didn't want to tell him that what he just said was almost exactly like something E.N.D. had said to me during our fight. I scrambled to find a good explanation.

"Oh-I uh, just remembered I haven't paid my rent this month! My landlady will kill me!"

"I think she'll make an exception, considering all that's happened," Erza said, comfortingly, but now I really was freaking out, because I actually hadn't paid my rent.

"Are you kidding me? She charged me seven years of rent because she held my apartment for me while we were stuck on Tenroujima!" I exclaimed. I had really worked myself into a panic now. "I have to go on a job! I am totally broke!" I said, trying to sit up, but once again I was thwarted by Natsu, who pushed me back onto my pillows.

"Relax, Lucy, as soon as you're better, we'll go out on tons of jobs to make up for it." Natsu said.

"For goodness sakes I'm tired of laying down and talking to all you people while you are standing up!" Just then Porlyusica walked in with a basket full of herbs, looking at her doors.

"What happened to these doors?" She asked angrily, and we all pointed at Natsu, he gave me a look of betrayal, and I shrugged, which I immediately regretted, as it sent a spasm of pain down my back.

We spent the next few minutes watching Porlyusica lay into a cowering Natsu. She hadn't even looked at me, so I didn't think she knew I was awake. I decided to be a good friend and get her attention away from him.

"Erza can you hand me that water?" I asked, and she nodded, and stepped forward, but my plan had worked. Porlyusica's head immediately snapped in my direction.

"So you're awake?" She asked, and I nodded. "Good, just in time, I need to redress your wounds and apply a magical salve. I nodded again. "Roll over," she commanded, and I tried, but couldn't. The pain in my back was too much.

"Do you want me to help you?" Natsu asked quietly, and I nodded, and he lifted me, without even causing a twinge of pain in my back, and rolled me onto my stomach. I propped my chin up on my hands and looked up at him.

"How did you know how to do that so it wouldn't hurt me?" I asked.

"Because I put those wounds there, and I remember where they are at," He said. I gaped at him.

"Natsu you didn't…" I said, but Natsu just shook his head, and I let my voice trail away. I tried to think how I would feel in his shoes, but I couldn't even picture how badly he must feel. If the tables had been turned, and I had become E.N.D. and then almost killed Natsu, I would never be able to forgive myself. I reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, which hurt a lot, but Natsu needed to be comforted, so I ignored the pain. He looked at it for a moment, seeming like he wanted to shrug it off, but he took it and held it in both of his, without looking at me.

"Thank you Natsu," I said, and he glanced up at me, surprised. "For helping me."

"No problem, Luce," He said, giving me a grin that was a mere shadow of his former one.

Just then Porlyusica came over and began cutting away my bandages, and it occurred to me that I wasn't wearing anything underneath them. I felt the heat rush to my cheeks, and I looked at Natsu, who was watching her intently. I knew that he was just being sure she didn't hurt me, but I still didn't like it.

"Natsu…" I said, and he stopped watching Porlyusica's hands and looked at me. "Go wait outside."

"What? No!" He said, "How come I'm the only one who has to leave?"

"Well you're the only guy in here who is fit to go outside!"

"What do you mean! That good for nothing Gray is fine!" He exclaimed. Gray scoffed. He was most definitely _not _fine.

"Why don't you say that again Pyro?" Gray said angrily. He tried to stand on his broken leg, and nearly collapsed. Juvia caught him and set him back on the bed. Gray muttered an awkward thank you.

"Ha! You're pathetic!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Shut up." He muttered, his face turning red.

"If it's your modesty you're worried about then use this to cover yourself." Porlyusica handed me a sheet to wrap around my front. Erza stepped forward tucked the sheet around me to be sure I was covered.

"Fine Natsu, you can stay," I said angrily. He looked triumphantly around. Igneel shook his great head exasperatedly. I winced as Porlyusica began cutting and peeling off the bandages.

"Igneel cauterized your wounds to keep you from bleeding to death, but once you got here I had to open them again, so that I could extract the poison from E.N.D.'s claws."

I didn't respond to that, I was too busy clenching my teeth in pain. I squeezed Natsu's hand, and he watched my face, looking like he was going to be sick.

Porlyusica finished cutting the bandages and pulled them out from underneath me, tossing them into the waste basket. She pulled an ointment out of her sleeve, and removed the lid.

"This will be terribly painful, but it will help draw out the poison, and it will help you heal faster as well." She dipped a finger in and began spreading the ointment on my shoulders without any further warning. White light burst behind my eyes and I shouted in pain. It _burned. _I squeezed Natsu's hand tightly as my vision came back into focus. My entire back felt like it was on fire, and the pain reached down to my bones. My blood was boiling in my veins, and my chest tightened up so I could barely breathe.

Natsu reached out and placed a hand on my cheek, looking helpless. His face was slightly green and his eyes were wet. He rubbed his thumb across my cheek, and I realized he was wiping tears. "I'm so sorry," He whispered.

"It's not your fault," I said through gritted teeth. He shook his head again and I knew he didn't believe me. It went on for what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes. With every new application of the ointment the pain in my back skyrocketed again. When she finally finished she looked at Natsu appraisingly.

"You want to make up for hurting this girl, right?" She asked gruffly. I started to say something indignant, but Natsu cut across me.

"Yes, of course." He said, looking up at her hopefully.

"Well then, I need you to tend to this girl, I don't have time to take care of her every need." He nodded. "We have to leave her back exposed for a couple hours, to let the poison bleed out. You must wipe down her back frequently, whenever any of the blood or poison bubbles up, to be sure she doesn't re-absorb it, got it?" Natsu nodded again. "It won't be pleasant for her, but don't be a pansy about it. If you are to gentle you might not get all of the poison, and she might die, understand?" Natsu set his face in determination, and nodded again. That's when I realized what she was doing. She was letting him try to make up for what he had done. She knew he wasn't really at fault, but she also knew that he would never accept it, so she was helping him by letting him help me. I felt a surge of gratitude for this old lady, before she started showing him how to do it.

"You've got to wipe along the cut, not down her back or you risk tearing her flesh even more." Natsu nodded. "Try it." He took the rag from her hand and wiped it along my wound, gently, but it still hurt like hell. I winced loudly, and he stopped. "No, no, no," she said. She took hold of his hand and wiped down another one of my wounds, _hard. _I shouted, but she told Natsu that _that _was how to do it. I spent the next two hours switching between thanking Natsu and cursing him. After a while he started to get some of his old fire back, and I knew he was feeling better about everything.

"Hey Natsu, my feet are cold, would you mind covering them for me?" I asked.

"Sure thing, Luce," He said, reaching down to throw the blankets over my feet. Porlyusica looked up from Gray's wounds and started.

"You stupid child, what happened to your leg? Why didn't you say something about it earlier?" I glanced behind me as she shoved Natsu out of the way and threw the covers off me. I shouted in protest, but sighed in relief when I saw I was wearing a skirt. I shrieked again when she grabbed my foot. "Why did no one tell me the child's leg was broken?"

"Let me go," I whimpered. I tried to move my leg out of her grasp, but it was agony, so I gave up. She released me, but glared down at me like I had personally wronged her. "I'm sorry, I forgot because of everything that happened, and I haven't really moved it that much, so I didn't notice it for the pain in my back," I explained.

"Then why didn't you say anything?" She snapped, rounding on Natsu.

"I didn't know it was broken, I mean," he said, screwing up his face in concentration, "I remember her hurting it during the fight, but I didn't think she hurt it that badly, because she was walking on it." I looked back at my leg, it really did look terrible. It was all back and blue and swollen just above the ankle.

"You walked with your leg like this?" She asked me, and I flinched at the venom in her voice.

"Well, I didn't have much of a choice, I couldn't just lay down and let E.N.D. kill me!" Porlyusica grumbled something about "stupid humans" but I couldn't understand much more than that. Without any warning she grabbed hold of my leg just below the break and pulled on it, _hard. _I screamed loudly, grabbing onto my pillow in pain. She dropped my foot back onto the bed abruptly and stepped back.

"There, now the break's been set, so we just have to bandage it and let it heal. Where's that young girl when you need her?" She said, looking around the hut for Wendy, who had left a while ago to spend time with Grandeeney.

"Juvia will go get her!" Juvia said, leaping to her feet. She ran out the door and returned a few minutes later with Wendy and Grandeeney in tow.

"Lucy, how did _that_ happen?" She gasped when she saw my leg.

"It happened during my fight with E.N.D.," I told her.

"Don't worry, I'll do my best to heal it," Wendy said, stepping over and placing her hands over my leg.

"Don't forget to take a deep breath," Grandeeney instructed. I looked over at her, disoriented, her voice really did sound just like Porlyusica's.

"Yes," Wendy said. She breathed deeply, and then as she exhaled her hands began to glow, and a warm, tingling sensation flooded my throbbing leg, and then it all faded, leaving nothing more than a dull ache.

"It should be a better now, but you should keep off of it for a while, just to be sure. I nodded.

"Thanks Wendy," I said. She nodded and ran back outside to sit with Grandeeney. Porlyusica came over and began roughly cleaning the wounds on my back. I buried my face in the pillow, doing my best not to make a sound. I felt Natsu's hand on the back of my head, stroking my hair soothingly. I began thinking of anything and everything in order to keep my mind off of the pain, and eventually my mind made it back to how I defeated E.N.D..

I had kissed Natsu in order to _stop E.N.D_., of course I had, but it felt like something had changed between us. Recently his touches had been gentler, almost tender. Of course the logical explanation for this was he was feeling guilty for hurting me and was trying to make up for it, but there had been a tiny part of me that _wanted _to kiss Natsu, although I never would have admitted it before, which left me wondering if there had been a tiny part of Natsu that wanted to kiss _me _too. Also there was this small part of me that I refused to acknowledge, just in case I was wrong, that thought that Natsu had been kissing me _back _before I fell unconscious. Did that mean that he liked me, or had I been imagining it?

_Don't be stupid Lucy, _I thought, _of course he wasn't kissing you back, he was too busy fighting off E.N.D. to worry about kissing you back. _

_So would he kiss you back if you were to kiss him again? _A mean little voice in the back of my head asked.

Everything I knew about Natsu seemed to point otherwise. I had never even seen Natsu interested in a girl, or guy for that matter. I mean, sure he's tried peeping on the girls a few times, but all the boys have. However, the tenderness of his touches recently seemed to say he _might. _

Natsu kept stroking my hair while Porlyusica finished cleaning my back, applied a different cream that burned less, and wrapped me back up in bandages. Then he helped me roll over again and prop up on some pillows. It was the first time that I had been able to sit up, and other than the unpleasant sensation of stretching the wounds on my back, it felt great. Porlyusica had Wendy come back in after she had checked for more broken bones. She fixed several of my ribs, and one of my wrists had been fractured, but my back had to heal naturally so I could bleed out any remaining poison, so she left it alone.

"How're you feeling?" Natsu asked, looking me up and down.

"I'm feeling good," I said, scooting over in my bed to make room for him, then patting the place next to me. "This is the one and only time," I said, smiling, "that you will be invited into my bed, so don't think it's a free pass, I had better not come home and find you asleep in my bed anymore, okay?" Natsu chuckled, and then sat down next to me.

"I ain't making' any promises, Luce, your bed is really comfortable," He said. I rolled my eyes.

"So how're you feeling, Natsu?" I asked again.

"Me? I feel fine, this is nothing! I been beat up worse than this before, and never even missed a beat." He said cockily.

"I suppose you have, you're tough Natsu, but still that last battle was one of a kind," I replied. Now that he was so close to me, I could see his face better. It looked like he hadn't slept for a week. Natsu set his arm on top of my shoulders, so that he wouldn't touch my back.

"Don't worry about me," he said, noticing me staring, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? When's the last time you got a full night sleep?"

"Umm, I don't know, a week maybe?" He said, scratching the back of his head.

"A whole week?! Natsu you need to get some rest, you look awful!" I said.

"Don't worry about it, Luce, I'm fine."

"No, you're not! I've never seen you look this worn out! Why haven't you been sleeping well?" I asked.

"Ain't it obvious?" He responded quietly, "I've been worried about you, Luce, you didn't wake up for a few days, and I thought you might die."

"Well now I'm awake and I'm worried about you!" I said. He didn't respond to that, so I let the matter drop for now, but I intended to bring it up again later. We sat in silence for a while, not looking at each other, just enjoying the others company. I was thinking about our kiss again, and what I should do. I couldn't just let things stay the way they were. I had no idea what Natsu was thinking, and we needed to talk about it to avoid confusion later on, or at least I did.

Later Porlyusica came over and began tending to Natsu's wounds. She unwrapped the bandages around his face and neck, and most of the one's on his arms, so he looked like a person again.

"Natsu, I'm tired of being stuck in here, will you help me outside so I can get some fresh air?" I asked once she had finished.

"Uh sure," He said, standing up and reaching a hand out to me.

"I don't think so," Porlyusica said, "You need rest to heal."

"If I don't get out of this bed and into the air I'm going to go insane," I told her, "Believe me, this will help."

"But you shouldn't put weight on your foot Lucy!" Wendy piped up, and I scowled.

"I'll carry you," Natsu suggested, and I sighed in relief. I wanted to go outside to talk to him alone, but I really did need to go out and get fresh air too.

"Yah I'll go piggy back so Natsu won't touch my back!" I said enthusiastically. Porlyusica sighed.

"Fine then, go, but don't get yourself hurt, or I won't treat you anymore." Natsu and I nodded, and he crouched down so I could climb onto his back. Erza stepped forward, like she was going to go with us, but I gave her a look that told her to stay. You can say many things about Erza, but you can't say she's not perceptive. She covered her sudden move by reaching for the water and handing it abruptly to Gray.

"Drink," she commanded. He took the cup, looking perplexed, and drank.

"Oh I'll come with you!" Wendy said, but before I could say anything Erza cut in.

"Actually Wendy, I've had this nagging pain in my back, and I was wondering if you could heal it for me," Erza said.

"Sure, Erza," Wendy said cheerfully.


	3. Chapter 3

***A/N- Hello and welcome my dear readers. Raise your hands if Chapter 414 ripped your heart out and stomped on it with cleated shoes. *Raises hand and sobs uncontrollably*. I'm dead on the inside, but lucky for you, being dead has never stopped me from updating a chapter, algebra does that. Which I start tomorrow. Wish me luck, my math teacher is Satan. I sure chose a bad time to start trying to learn Japanese from an app. Oh well. Enjoy your chapter. **

When we made it out the door, I whispered in Natsu's ear, "Natsu can we go somewhere more private? I need to talk to you." He nodded his head and wordlessly turned into the woods. We walked in silence for several minutes before Natsu stopped in a clearing next to a shallow stream. He set me down on the bank and sat next to me. I took a deep breath, then exhaled, trying to shake the sudden nervousness that had descended upon me. I laid down, parallel to the stream, and looked at the sky. Natsu copied me, resting his head in his hands.

"Um, Natsu, why have you been acting so weird lately?" I asked. An unimpressive start.

"Whaddya mean, Luce?" He asked, looking over at me curiously. I looked out across the water and into the forest beyond. I wouldn't be able to do this if I looked into his face.

"I mean, you've just been acting different, like gentler I guess," I said. I could feel my cheeks heating up.

"Do you want me to challenge you to a duel or somethin'?" He asked, and I laughed.

"No, thanks. I've had enough of fighting for a while. But you just seem, I don't know how to explain it Natsu, you're just treating me differently."

"Well, you're hurt, I'm not just gunna come up and push you around or nothin.'" I sighed heavily, deciding I was going to have to change direction.

"Are you sure it wasn't because of how I woke you up, how I broke E.N.D.'s hold on you I mean?" I asked, and he finally seemed to catch on.

"Oh you mean when you kissed me?" He asked, with the air of someone who had just had all the secrets of the world revealed to him.

"Yes, Natsu, I mean when I kissed you," I said exasperatedly.

"Why would I treat you differently because of that?" He said, and I had to think for a second on how to respond to that. He was so dense sometimes.

"Well, that's why I'm asking, because you _have_ been treating me differently," I said, "and also because…"

"Because what?"

"Well, just before I passed out, right before it all went black I kind of thought, well, I sort of," I gulped. "Ikindofthoughtthatmaybeyouwerekissingmeback," I said hurriedly, knowing my face was a bright pink.

"What, are you mad at me for it or somethin'?" He asked, still looking at the sky.

"No of course not- wait are you saying that you were?"I asked, turning to look at him incredulously.

"Yea," He said, rolling over on his side so he could look at me better, "D'ya got a problem with it?"

"Well no, not exactly," I said, blushing furiously. I looked up at the sky so I didn't have to look directly at him, "I guess I was just wondering why?" I could see his perplexed face out of the corner of my eye and decided to change what I just said.

"Well, I was wondering if things were going to change between us now," I said. _Much better. _

"Why would they change?" He asked, and I sighed heavily.

"Well, you know, because we kissed, I mean, you just said you were kissing me back, so does that mean that you have feelings for me?" I asked, feeling incredibly stupid. _Of course he doesn't Lucy! _I thought.

"Sure I do," he said, in a way that made me doubt he knew what I meant.

"Like, romantic feelings, not friendship feelings, Natsu," I clarified, looking him directly in the eyes now.

"I'm not stupid Lucy," He said, I chuckled, and some of the tension I had been feeling eased.

"I know that," I said, rolling my eyes playfully, "but sometime you can be a little clueless. I just wanted to make sure that you knew what I meant."

"So what about you?" He asked, propping up one elbow so he could look into my face.

"What about me what?" I asked.

"Who's the clueless one now?" He asked tauntingly.

"Oh shut up," I said, pushing his head to the side playfully. I looked up into his face, and he was completely serious, which startled me. I felt heat rushing into my cheeks, so I turned my face away from him so he wouldn't see. He waited quietly for my response while I stared at the trees, stalling.

"Y-yah, I think I do, Natsu," I said.

"Well then it's settled," He said, and I heard him lie back down next to me.

"But it's not!" I said, turning my head. I was still unable to roll over successfully on my own. "We haven't settled anything!"

"But I thought I just answered your question," he said, turning to face me.

"But what are we going to do about it?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He replied. I was going to get nowhere with him unless I just said it flat out.

"Like, are we dating, or are we still just friends?"

"Well what do you want?" He asked looking back up at the sky and yawning.

"You tell me! You have to help decide too!"

"Whatever you want is fine with me, Lucy, as long as you're happy." I blushed furiously at that, even though he said nonchalantly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well, I don't know what I want," I said honestly, looking back up at the sky myself.

"Well," Natsu yawned, "Maybe you should figure that out."

"But it's complicated!" I said. I tried to sit up, but Natsu placed a hand on my shoulder to keep me laying down, he obviously thought sitting up was too strenuous of an activity for me to manage.

"It doesn't seemed all that complicated, but that's just me," he said amiably.

"But it is! What happens if I say I want us to be together, and then we break up? Will we still be able to be friends and partners without it being weird? What if we decide to just stay the way we are, maybe even see other people, now that we've said out loud we like each other, will we be able to stay the same? What if there is this weird jealousy thing going on?" Natsu looked at me, and I could see the amusement on his face. He clearly thought that I was over thinking this.

"Stop making that face at me Natsu, it's not funny!" He merely chuckled in response. "Natsu, you're my best friend, and I don't want to ruin that!"

"So then don't," he said, as if it were that simple. "I've already told you that whatever you want is fine with me, so do whatever you think is best."

"You're no help," I said grumpily. I spent a while pondering what to do, looking at Natsu. He continued looking up at the clouds, and I watched as his eyes drifted shut and gentle snores began to fill the silence of the clearing. He looked so peaceful and sweet. I watched him sleeping for a while, smiling. He was so cute when he was asleep, and he undoubtedly needed this rest too.

"Lucy…" He mumbled, rolling over so that he was facing me. We were so close now that I could feel his breath tickling my face. I took the opportunity to study his newly revealed face. He had a few small scars that hadn't been there before, but the bruises had healed, and he looked almost the same as he had before, except for the bags under his eyes.

"Oh Natsu," I said to myself, reaching out and gently stroking his cheek. "This must've been terribly hard on you. I'm so sorry for making you worry." I began examining a new, faint scar on his forehead, and wondering how exactly he had gotten it, when he spoke, making me jump.

"Don't apologize," he said, "It wasn't your fault."

"Well it wasn't yours either!" I said passionately, firing up at once. He smiled at me, a bright beautiful smile that made my heart ache.

"Thank you," he said, and I didn't need to ask for what. I knew he was thanking me for not blaming him. I smiled back at him, and I was going to say something, but he reached out and pulled me close to him. My breath caught in my throat as he placed his hand on my waist and leaned in, kissing me on the lips.

Fire exploded in my middle, and expanded out through my whole body, right into my fingertips. _This must be what it feels like to eat fire, _I thought. I wrapped one of my hands in Natsu's vest, and the other I tangled up in his hair. He placed his hand on the back of my head and pulled me closer to him, though his other hand was still careful not to touch my injuries. He kissed me sweetly, yet surely, like he was overconfident in the fact that he knew what he was doing.

When we finally broke apart, we were both panting. It might've been minutes or hours, I couldn't tell. He grinned goofily at me, and I couldn't help but laugh. He rolled back onto his back, but kept his hands on my shoulders and waist. I scooted closer to him and rested my head on his chest. It felt so nice being wrapped up in his arms, outside in the summer air. I closed my eyes happily enjoying the moment.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in Porlyusica's cabin, laying in my bed covered with the blankets. The first thing that hit me after that was how _loud _it was. I looked over at the source of the noise, to see that Natsu was busy trying to fix the doors that he had broken earlier, while arguing with both Gray and Igneel.

"Shut up you stupid pervert, and get off your lazy but and help me fix this door!" He said.

"Why should I?" Gray retorted, "I'm not the one who broke it!"

"Because it's your fault it's broken!" Natsu said, through a mouthful of nails.

"Be careful, don't keep those in your mouth, you'll swallow them!" Igneel cautioned him.

"Stay outta this!" Natsu said.

"How do you work out that it's my fault, pyro?" Gray asked angrily. He was no longer covered from head to foot in bandages, and he wasn't bed bound either. He was sitting in a chair in his underwear, and whether or not he realized he was half naked was anyone's guess.

"Because If you had come to get me when Lucy woke up, I wouldn't have broken down the doors!"

"Maybe if you weren't so reckless then you wouldn't break stuff so often!" Gray snapped.

"Just put on some clothes and help me!" Natsu shouted.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Gray shouted back.

"I don't see how the naked one's actions are to blame for your carelessness you little punk, so shut up and fix the damned door!" Igneel said. He had obviously reached wits end, listening to Natsu and Gray argue. I laughed out loud, thinking that I really liked Igneel. I couldn't decide which was my favorite part of that sentence, the part where Igneel referred to Gary as "the naked one" or when he called Natsu "punk". Everyone turned and looked at me, exclaiming,

"Lucy!" Natsu almost fell off the ladder that he was standing on, and he had to cling on to the door to prevent himself from falling as it crashed to the ground. I sat bolt upright, and flung my covers off my legs before I realized what I had done.

"Hey!" I said, looking around, "That didn't even hurt!" Natsu lost his grip on the door and hurdled to the ground. He struck with a resounding CRASH that shook the many potion bottles on the shelves and counters.

"You're awake!" He exclaimed, rocketing over to the bed and stopping just shy of a collision. Just then a blue blur streaked across the room and slammed into my chest, knocking the wind out of me.

"Lucy, you're alive!" It cried. I stroked the back of the poor cat's head as he cried into my shirt, which I was thankfully wearing. Courtesy of Erza no doubt.

"It's good to see you too, Happy," I said soothingly, "I see you made it back in one piece." Happy nodded.

"Yah, I got home at sunset last night, but you had already went to sleep, and they wouldn't let me wake you up to say hello!" He cried.

"Well I'm awake now," I said soothingly. I looked up at a grinning Natsu. "I slept through the whole night?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Yah, you must've been real tired still, because you wouldn't wake up no matter what I did, I ended up having to carry you back here from outside." I looked closely at him. The bags under his eyes were a great deal smaller, and he looked a good deal happier than he had yesterday.

"That mean old Lady said we could leave once Natsu fixed the door!" Happy said tearfully.

"Well then hurry up and fix it!" I said, looking at Natsu, "I want to go home and get some jobs, I have to pay my rent!" I said. Natsu nodded and went back to working on the door. It took him a few hours because he spent the whole time arguing with one person or the other.

"I wonder how the work on the guild hall is coming," Erza said as we walked back to the hut, well everyone else walked, Wendy said I still needed to keep off of my ankle, so Natsu carried me on his back.

"Oh yah, I forgot that the guild hall was destroyed," I said.

"It's been about a week, so we might even be taking requests again by now."

"A week?" I exclaimed, "I was asleep that long?"

"Yah, the rest of us were only out for three days, but you were unconscious for 5," Erza said. "Porlyusica allowed those of us with the worst injuries to stay in her home, the rest were treated in a makeshift hospital until they woke up, Master Makarov told me everyone else had woken up after a day or so."

"I wonder what crazy ideas Master will come up with this time? Maybe this time he'll have the request board floating in the pool," I said, chuckling.

"I don't know," Erza replied, "but Master said that Sting brought over Sabertooth and they have been helping with the rebuilding."

"I thought I smelled those two hangin around here," Natsu commented.

"I'm told, however, that Sting sank into a depression when he found the remains of the pool," Erza said.

"He said that he thought Sabertooth was the only wizard guild with a pool," Wendy chimed in. I laughed, Sting was so childish, kind of like Natsu.

"It'll be nice to see all of them again," I said. "And it's really good of them to help rebuild the guild hall!" There were general mutters of ascent, and an "aye sir!" from Happy.

We discussed the possible "upgrades" Makarov could have dreamed up this time. Natsu thought it would include an all you can eat fire buffet, that included lots of different colors of fire. Happy had his money on a fish buffet. Erza thought there would be magical training facilities. Gray said that there would be a sauna. I personally, knowing the master, thought that there would probably be a huge waterslide running from the roof to the ground floor or something big and over the top like that. Maybe a movie theater.

"That's actually not a bad idea," Juvia commented.

"Yah," Wendy chimed in. "The whole guild could get together and have a movie night!"

"That actually sounds like fun," Erza said. "Maybe we could ask Master about it when we get back, if they haven't already finished it." We chatted merrily about it for the rest of the way back, and were pleasantly surprised to see upon arriving that the Guild Hall had its main supports up already, and it looked like there were several walls already up.

I could see a tarp on the ground, with multiple signs around it, marking off what had been the pool. People were milling about, each going about their own tasks. It was easy to pick out the Fairy Tail guild members from the crowd, even at this distance. They were the ones carrying the biggest loads, making the most noise, or drinking the most booze. The Sabertooth guild just couldn't compare, because most of them were sane, and they didn't feel the need to carry twelve columns at once.

All, that was, except for Sting and Rogue, who seemed to be the Natsu and Gray of Sabertooth. It looked like Sting was challenging Rogue to some sort of competition. Rogue seemed to be refusing, but all of the sudden he turned around and started picking up columns and hefting them onto his back. He kept stacking them up until he had the same amount as Sting, and then he lined himself up with him.

"Uh-oh," I said, "That doesn't look good. I think they are going to race each other."

"Sting bet Rogue that he could run faster carrying a ton of wood than Rogue could. The loser has to do the others work for the rest of the day." Natsu told me.

"You could hear that from all the way over here?" I asked incredulously. Natsu nodded, watching Sting and Rogue as they prepared to race. As we entered the courtyard, two enormous hands appeared out of nowhere and Lifted the two up by the necks of their shirts.

"Oh no you don't!" Makarov's voice filled the courtyard as he snatched the boys out from underneath their piles of columns and dangled them in front of the air. "While I appreciate the help Sabertooth is offering us in rebuilding our Guild Hall, I will not permit you children to act like reckless fools and endanger yourself and others while I'm alive. No matter who you are," He said pointedly at Sting, to general laughter as everyone stopped to watch Sting and Rogue get scolded. They each blushed slightly, not looking at Master.

"Well it's good to know that Master rides other people's asses too, not just mine and Gray's" Natsu said. Everyone looked from Master to us, and broke into speech at the same time.

"Lu-Chan, I was so worried!" Levy called, running over.

"It's about time you two stopped being lazy and started being real men," Elfman said.

"Lucy, it's good to see you up and out," Cana commented, actually putting down her keg and approaching us.

"Erza, I'm glad you're feeling better," Biska said. Her daughter giggled cutely and said her own congratulations.

"Is Natsu-nii feeling all better now?"

"Ya kid, I'm all better," he told her.

"Gray, you're looking rough," Wakaba said. Everyone from Fairy Tail crowded around us, chattering and smiling happily. The Sabertooth members all hung back to give us our reunion, except for Sting, who wrenched himself free of Master's grip by shedding his shirt and dropping to the ground. He darted away from Master before he could be caught, and shoved his way to the front of the crowd.

"Hey, Natsu, how've you been?" He asked, holding out his hand.

"I've been better," he said cautiously, but didn't move to shake Sting's hand, mainly because that would mean dropping me. "I'd shake your hand, but Lucy isn't supposed to put any weight on her ankle for a while, so she can't stand on her own."

"Oh really?" He replied, looking at me like he hadn't noticed I was there before. He probably hadn't. "What did you do to it?"

"I hurt it in the battle with E.N.D.," I told him dubiously. _Isn't it obvious? _I thought.

"Oh yah! Everyone told me you kicked butt out there! I wish I could have seen it, it sounded awesome! Did you really summon the Celestial Spirit King?" My heart clenched. My throat closed and tears sprang to my eyes. I looked at the ground, trying to hold back my tears.

"She doesn't want to talk about it," Natsu growled viciously, glaring daggers at him. Sting looked taken aback, obviously he didn't know what that had cost me.

"Natsu, it's alright, he doesn't know," I said quietly.

"Doesn't know what?" He asked, confused. Obviously he wasn't that good at reading social cues because everyone in the group was looking incredibly uncomfortable, determinedly not looking at me.

Just then Yukino appeared next to Sting, and wordlessly dragged him away, only acknowledging us long enough to give me an apologetic look. I watched as she dragged him some distance away and began explaining something to him. Judging by the horrified look on his face, and the guilty glances he kept shooting me, she was explaining it to Sting. He hung his head in shame, and I felt the corners of my mouth twitch. He was kind of cute, and he reminded me of Natsu.

I knew everyone in the guild was probably as intrigued as Sting, but they knew me better, and could tell from my body language that I didn't want to talk. Eventually Makarov commanded Fairy Tail to get back to work, and Sting did the same with Sabertooth. Natsu set me down in a chair under an umbrella next to Master, and went off to help rebuild. I tried to tell him I could help, somehow, but he just shook his head and walked off to where Gray, Sting, and Rogue were.

Master and I sat quietly for a while, and every so often, when someone would walk by our resting place, they would say they were glad I was feeling better, or something along those lines. I brought up our idea of a movie theater to him, and he seemed genuinely interested, in fact, he called over Mirajane, who was using her Satan Soul to fly supplies back and forth to the people who were working on the roof, and told her to make arrangements for it.

"You know, I'm proud of you, Lucy," he said when she flew away.

"What?" I asked, snapping out of a daze.

"You, in particular, showed great inner strength and courage during the battle with Tartarus." He said. My throat closed up just thinking about it, but I managed to squeak out a small "Thank you."

"I know what saving the guild cost you, and how sad you must feel right now." He spoke to the clouds, never looking down at me. "But I think I speak on behalf of your dear friend Aquarius also," _How did he know who I sacrificed?" _I wondered. "When I say that I am proud to have known you, and proud that you made such a noble and selfless decision. It isn't easy to make the right choice, even if that choice seems like the obvious road." I nodded, looking out at the construction workers. Natsu and I made eye contact, but he looked from Master and back to me, and decided to let us talk in peace. He had always been perceptive when I really needed him to be.

"It seems you have more courage in your little finger than most people have in their entire bodies," Master said.

"That's not true," I choked out, realizing that I had started to cry. "I'm not brave."

"Of course you are," he said soothingly. "It takes bravery to stand up and fight like you did when all hope seems lost, and it takes even more bravery to make such an enormous sacrifice. But not only did you sacrifice your own happiness for the rest of us, you wiped your tears and stood to fight again, because you knew what needed to be done. My dear child, you showed more courage and strength in that single moment than most men show in a lifetime, and I couldn't be more proud. I think if we could asked First Master Mavis now, that she would agree with me, in that your actions during the fight with Tartarus showcased the very qualities she had in mind when she created Fairy Tail. My child, you should be proud of what you did, for you are as strong as they come."

"But I don't feel strong," I cried, burying my face in my hands.

"Alas, that is usually the case, the strong rarely realize what truly special human beings they are, no matter how many times the rest of us tell them. I've noticed that sometimes the strongest are the ones who think themselves weaker than everyone else, and the bravest are the ones who think themselves cowards until thrown into battle, and even then they insist that they have only done what anyone else would do.

"They do not realize what an inspiration they are to others in the way they do things, or just how many of their peers secretly look up to them." I glanced up at Master, but he was still addressing the clouds. "I admire your strength and bravery, for they are truly special, but do you know what I admire about you the most?" I shook my head.

"Your kind, forgiving, and loving heart. You treat every person you meet with kindness and love, which is why you make such an impression on everyone you meet. You don't discriminate against people for what they believe in or what they fight for, you respect them for standing up for what they believe in, and you care for them because they are fellow humans with their own stories and feelings.

"You never held a grudge against Juvia or Gajeel, although they were members of Phantom Lorde, the guild that caused you so much pain. You worried for Flare, even though her guild cheated you out of a win in the Grand Magic Games, and you were also willing to lose the match in order to protect the young Asuka. To you, these actions seem like the natural thing to do, and that anyone would have done it, but I assure you, they are not. I have met plenty of people in my 80 years of life that would have allowed the child to suffer in order to save face.

"You smile in times of trouble, and raise the spirits of all those around you with your simple faith in your friends. I shudder to think what state the guild would be in if you had went home to your father when he hired Phantom Lorde to capture you. Your smile, and occasionally your tears have held us all together on more occasion than one, child. Even now, they are working to put up the Guild Hall, yes. It is for themselves, but when someone got discouraged, the others would motivate them by saying, 'Come on, you don't want Lucy and the others to come home to this mess, do you?"

"Did they really?" I asked in awe. He nodded.

"Even though they weren't awake, they knew, they could sense that you saved them, not once, but twice. Of course, they also are trying to thank the others as well, but you have made an impression on every person here. Even the Sabertooth members seemed concerned about your health. While I was explaining your condition to everyone, one of them piped up and asked 'Isn't she the blonde one who fought with Minerva?' Your selfless determination to do your best to help the people you loved even touched the hearts of our then enemies." I sniffled and looked out at the crowd of people, now breaking for lunch. As everyone began setting down their work and finding shady spots to sit and eat, Makarov handed me a handkerchief to wipe my face.

"Thank you, Master."

I watched Natsu, Gray, Wendy, and Erza each make their own ways over to me, and one by one they sat down in a circle near me. None of them had lunches to eat, so we just talked for a while until Sting and Rogue appeared out of nowhere, each laden down with several lunch boxes.

"You know, I think Rogue and I packed a bit too much lunch for us, do you guys want to help us eat it?" Natsu and Happy exclaimed excitedly as they were handed large lunchboxes. "I'm really sorry about before, Lucy," Sting said as he handed me an enormous lunchbox. "I had no idea."

"That's alright," I said, "and thank you so much for the lunches! I'm starving," I said, opening up mine and looking eagerly at the contents. There was a collective gasp of appreciation from everyone in the group, except for Natsu and Happy, who had dug into their food without bothering to look at it.

"Wow," Gray said.

"Truly impressive," Erza agreed.

"It looks so yummy!" Wendy exclaimed.

"Mmhmm," I agreed. I noticed Sting giving Rouge a satisfied look, and that Rogue's cheeks were slightly pink. "Rogue, did you make all these lunch boxes?"

"He sure did!" Sting said proudly, patting Rogue on the back as he passed Master a lunchbox.

"Thank you, it looks delicious," Makarov complimented him. I took a bite of mine, and smiled appreciatively.

"Wow Rogue, where did you learn how to cook like this?" I asked, "This is amazing."

"Skiadrum taught me," he said quietly.

"Really?" Natsu asked through a mouthful of food, "I thought dragons just ate their food raw, or cooked it with fire breath. That's what Igneel did. Why would they need to know how to cook?"

"Well, Skiadrum was a shadow dragon, and didn't have fire breath, for one," Rogue said. I giggled, but Natsu didn't miss a beat.

"So how did he cook his food?" Natsu asked eagerly, "and what kinds of food did he eat?" Nothing got Natsu excited quite like talking about food.

"Well he used his shadows to pick up food ingredients and mix them and stuff," he said cautiously, like he wasn't quite sure if Natsu was messing with him or not.

"That's awesome! What sorts of things did he cook?" Rogue looked up at me, like he was trying to say _Is this guy for real?_ I shrugged and laughed, _yup, he sure is, _I thought.

"Did he ever cook fish?" Happy asked excitedly.

"Yah…" Rogue replied.

"I bet it was delicious!" He exclaimed.

"I guess so, I don't really like fish though," Rogue looked alarmed when Happy squealed in indignation.

"You don't like fish? How can you not like fish?"

"I just don't," Rogue said. Sting laughed.

"You know, Lector loves fish too!" He said. When he said Lector's name, it occurred to me that he and Frosch weren't here.

"Where are Lector and Frosch? I haven't seen them around," I said, looking around for them, thinking maybe they were socializing with Lily, but Lily was with Gajeel and Carla was sitting with us, but Lector and Fro were nowhere to be seen.

"Fro wanted to explore Magnolia, so Lector went with him to be sure he didn't get lost." Rogue said.

"Does he get lost often?" Gray asked, "I know right after the Grand Magic Games he was wandering around all by himself, and he said he was lost then, but that he wanted to make it home on his own."

"Yah, we were watching him to see if he'd manage it, but he ended up here, at Fairy Tail of all places, instead of Sabertooth." Sting said with his mouthful of food. "I don't even want to know how that worked out in his mind."

"Oh yah, I remember seeing him too!" Said Natsu.

"Yah, I do too!" I commented.

"As do I," Erza said thoughtfully.

"Yah, Yukino and I thought it was weird how many guys from Fairy Tail he ran into," Sting said.

"Oh yah, Rogue, that reminds me," Natsu said, suddenly serious, "The you from the future asked me to warn you about something."

"The future me asked you to tell present me something?" He asked curiously, "How come you haven't told me until now?" He asked.

"I forgot." Natsu said simply. Rogue scoffed.

"Well tell me what it was!"

"He said the day the shadows took you was the day Frosch died, about a year from then, he told me to make sure he was safe."

All of the color drained out of Rogue's face at those words. The chopsticks fell out of his hand and clattered to the ground next to the lunch tray, and his mouth fell open. He sat that way, completely motionless.

"Dude…" Sting said quietly.

All of a sudden Rogue sprung across the space between himself and Natsu, grabbed him by the scarf, and pulled him threateningly close.

"_Why the hell_ didn't you say something about that earlier?" He shouted furiously, "or are other people's friends just not important enough to you to have remembered it?" Sting leapt forward and tore Rogue away from Natsu and flung him across the courtyard.

"Calm down, Rogue!" He said, "It's not like he forgot on purpose!" I was shocked to learn that apparently Sting was the level headed one of the two, well relatively, as he did just fling his best friend several meters across the ground for getting overly upset.

Rogue got to his feet and dusted himself off, then stalked back to the group and sat down with a thud.

"What else did he say?" Rogue asked angrily.

"Nothin'," Natsu told him, "Right before we crashed into the eclipse gate and he disappeared he just said for you to 'look out for Frosch a year from now, he'll be in danger, and be sure he doesn't die'."

"If you would have told me that sooner I wouldn't have brought him here with us to the fight with Tartarus!" Rogue exclaimed, firing up again, and Sting punched him hard in the face.

"I said calm down! A lot has happened since then, Natsu has his own problems you know, just thank him for telling you now and be done with it."

"You know, if you go on a dangerous mission feel free to bring him to Fairy Tail, we'd be happy to keep him safe, and he could hang out with Happy, Carla, and Lily." I said soothingly, trying to help calm his temper. Rogue picked himself up off the ground, looking calmer now.

"Thank you," he said, "I'll let you know if I decide to take you up on that." I nodded looking back at my lunch. I was completely stuffed, but over half of the lunch still remained. They were truly massive. The box was wide enough for each end to sit on an arm of my chair, with some hanging off each side.

"It must've taken you forever to make all of this, Rogue," I said, putting down my chopsticks, "these lunch boxes are huge! I'm not even halfway done, and I'm completely stuffed." I picked mine up and leaned down, placing the rest in front of Natsu, who had already finished his.

"It didn't take that long," Rogue said.

"Thanks, Luce," Natsu cried, "you're the best!" He devoured what was left of my lunch in a few seconds.

"Thanks for the meal, Rogue!" He said.

"You're welcome." Gray and Erza both finished theirs soon after, also thanking Rogue for the meal. Erza got to her feet and shouted at the rest of the two guilds.

"Alright lunch time is over!" She called, to general complaint, "You have five minutes to get back to work, or you can take it up with me!" All around everyone began packing up their lunches, even Sabertooth. I guess even they didn't want to mess with the girl who defeated 100 monsters on her own, in a matter of minutes no less.

Everyone closed their lunch boxes and stacked them up next to my chair so they would be out of the way, and I don't know what possessed him to do it, but when Natsu set his box down next to me, he also swooped down and kissed me on the forehead. I felt the heat rush to my cheeks as he turned and went back to work. Erza raised her eyebrows and winked at me in a way that said, _I expect the whole story later, _and across the courtyard I could see Levy staring open mouthed. She flashed me a grin, and turned around to say something to Gajeel. I just hoped she hadn't said anything to him about it, because the last thing I needed was a whole crowd of people asking me what had happened between Natsu and me. I could handle explaining it to Erza and Levy, but I didn't want to have to tell everyone in Fairy Tail myself.

***A/N- Just so y'all know, I cried when I wrote and proof- read this chapter. Sorry that not much happened in this chapter. Proof-reading it just now helped cheer me up after today's chapter (414) though. I hope for anyone else who happened to read both of them on the same day then it helped you feel better too! **

**Don't forget to check out my tumblr!**

**If you like what I write here, you'll love my tumblr! It's a side blog I have that is completely dedicated to writing. I post fanfics for fandom months, and even original fiction there. You can find some of the stuff here on that blog too, but I have tumblr exclusives there that you can't find anywhere else! Even if you don't have a tumblr go and check it out to see my fics there. You guys should be able to figure out which tab leads to the Fairy Tail fics! I'll see you there!**

**3- Special thanks to all the people who left reviews! They were all so sweet and heartfelt! They make my day when I get to read a comment someone left for me, and they help keep me motivated to write my stories, and not forget about them like I do when they don't get reviews. **animequeen100 Ghost's buddy neebuns Natsu is Awesome **Thanks so much! They mean a lot! Please keep reviewing! **


	4. Chapter 4

***A/N- I would like to thank all my wonderful readers who have liked and subscribed to my story. This started off as a sort of extended drabble that I was going to conclude after three chapters or so, just a gift for the LFT Secret Santa 2014, that I wouldn't have to spend a year finishing off, but after the response to the story I've started thinking about long term plots that I could use to keep this going for a little while longer than that. After everything that has been happening recently in the manga, I think I need this story to help me cope with all the losses and stuff. Maybe that sounds weird, but Fairy Tail is real to me. **

**Next I would like to say in advance, despite being a teenage girl, I have never done many teenage girl things, because I'm not girly. I had a lot of trouble with the scene where Lucy confesses her feelings to Natsu, not so much with Natsu's dialogue, because I sort of share his, "whatever works" attitude, with a little bit of, romantic anxiety is the only way I can think to put it, but Lucy's girl point of view is completely foreign to me. I think it turned out alright though, and I have hopes for this chapter. The whole idea of what happens in this chapter is completely weird to me, but I think that it's normal for other girls, so I tried. **

**Also, I am so pissed at chapter 416. It made me so mad. The best thing about it was the Gruvia moment, and I don't even ship Gruvia. Was that supposed to be the thing that 'people already suspect'? I have been in a bad mood all day because the chapter pissed me off so much. And I swear if sensei just skips a year to when Natsu is coming back I'm going to flip my shit. I may or may not remain angry depending on how the next few weeks go. **

**It's been a while since I've done a disclaimer, so here goes: **

**I do not own Fairy Tail, that honor goes to the wonderful, talented Hiro Mashima -sensei, who apparently likes nothing more than to crush our hearts and dance on the remains of our happiness. That's okay though, I still love you sensei. **

I watched everyone work to re-build the guild hall. Yukino summoned Libra, who reversed gravity on some if the larger pieces of stone for the walls because no one could lift them. I wanted to summon some of my spirits to help, but it would be unfair to ask them to work if I didn't do anything, and I wasn't ready to summon them after the battle, they had taken a lot of hits, and needed their rest. Loke said he was fine, but I knew that even if he wasn't, he wouldn't tell me.

Everyone cycled by individually to chat and ask me how I felt. Levy told me that she was coming over that night, so I invited Erza too, because I knew she would want to hear the story, too. To be so terrifying, she was surprisingly girly. Pantherlily came over and praised my bravery, and said that he was proud to fight alongside me, and he also asked how I was feeling. Mirajane said she knew about everything that happened, and that if I ever needed to talk, I could talk to her, and I thought that I just might take her up on that. She knew what it was like to lose someone.

Wendy came over and cast another pain killer spell on me, and a few people from Sabertooth came over and offered awkward well-wishes. The day passed pleasantly, despite the rather sad beginning. Master and I talked about the plans for the new and improved pool and movie theater, and the plans for an expanded hospital wing, since we seemed to be accident prone. I told him what everyone had thought he would add this time, since last time the guild hall changed so much, and he chuckled at Natsu's idea of a fire buffet.

He confessed that he thought seriously about adding a regular buffet and a sauna during the initial cleanup and reconstruction. I wasn't actually surprised. Master had always had a flare for the dramatic.

At the end of the day, it seemed like lots of progress had been made.

"So, where are the people from Sabertooth staying at?" I asked Master as people began to head home.

"They have been put up in open rooms in Fairy Hills," Master told me.

"I thought that boys weren't allowed in Fairy Hills," I said.

"We are making a temporary exception, for our friends at Sabertooth."

"What do you think of Sting," I asked, "Sabertooth's guild master?"

"He is young and energetic, but also immature." He said, watching as Sting started aggravating Rogue, Rogue got unnecessarily angry, and they started wrestling next to a precariously stacked pile of lumber. As we watched Rogue threw Sting into the pile, sending it crashing down over both of them. Master started to get to his feet, to dig them out of the pile, then scold them, but Erza, who had just finished what she had been working on, beat him to it. She stomped over to them and threw the lumber to the side, then picked them both up by the hair.

"What do you think you are doing?" She snarled.

"U-um," Rogue stuttered.

Master sat back down in his chair and folded his hands, enjoying the show.

"They remind me of Natsu and Gray, in a way," I said, and he laughed.

"Who reminds you of us?" Gray asked. I looked over my shoulder, to see Natsu and Gray walking over to me. I gestured over at Sting, Rogue, and Erza.

"Those two idiots remind you of us?" Natsu asked resting his hands gently on my shoulders. He looked over my head at the trio of people standing on the pile of lumber.

"Doesn't that scene look familiar to you?" I asked, looking at him upside down. He shivered and nodded.

"Leave it to Erza to bully another Guild's Guild Master."

"Well they _were_ acting stupid," I said, "they could have gotten seriously hurt. Anyway, I need to get home, Levy, Erza, and I are going to have a girls night. Levy is probably already waiting on me."

"Alright," Natsu said. He walked around my chair and crouched down. I slid onto his back.

"Hey Erza!" I called, waving, "We're heading to the house now, you can come to my place when you finish up over there!" She glanced back at Sting and Rogue, said something to them, and then abruptly dropped them on the ground.

"I'm done here, I'll come with you now!" She jogged over to where we were at, leaving two whimpering dragon slayers in her wake. We walked for a few minutes before anyone spoke again.

"What are you doing still hanging around with us?" Natsu asked Gray.

"What do you mean? I thought we were all going to hang out at Lucy's house," He said, looking at Erza and me. "You said you were having a 'Girls Night'."

"Yah, Gray, a Girls night is for _girls. _No boys allowed."

"Ha ha!" Natsu said mockingly.

"You can't stay either!" I exclaimed, "you're a guy too!"

"What?" Natsu replied, "Aw come on , Luce."

"No way!" I said.

"Sorry, Natsu!" Happy chimed. "You can't hang out with the ladies like me!"

"Neither can you!" I shot at him.

"But I'm a cat!" He stated.

"Not happening. You have to leave with Natsu and Gray," I said.

"Come on, Lucy, Gimme a break!" Gray protested, "what's the big deal?"

"The big deal," I replied, "is that we're going to be talking about girl things, so you can't come!" They both looked affronted, so I said, "Look, you both can come over and hang out as much as you want, later this week, but just not tonight." They both grumbled unhappily at that, but didn't say anything more.

"So what sort of girl things are you going to be talking about?" Natsu asked.

"The kind that are none of your business, and that you wouldn't understand, because you're boys," I said. I didn't want to tell him we would be talking about him, because it would be too embarrassing.

"Like what?" He prodded. Erza jumped in to save me from this line of questions.

"For instance, we will be comparing the number of enemies we've slayed in battle, and the attractiveness of each enemy that we defeated, and how sweet the looks of defeat on their faces were the instant they realized they were going to lose," she said, staring off into the distance with a wistful look in her eye, holding her fist up passionately. Natsu and Gray both moved as far away from Erza as they could on and gave her disgusted looks.

"Girls are weird," Natsu said.

"Yah," Gray agreed. I was in between laughter and being really creeped out. I _hoped _that she had been just kidding, and that she had just said that to freak the boys out. We arrived at my house shortly after that, and Gray departed from us, but Natsu continued on inside to carry me in.

"Is this the first time you have ever used my front door?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"Dunno."

I wasn't entirely surprised to see the light in my bedroom was on. My friends in Fairy Tail had a habit of breaking into my house that was hard to break. However, I was surprised to see more than just Levy sitting in my room. Juvia and Wendy were there, and as we entered the room, Cana walked in wearing a towel.

"What are all of you doing here?" I asked, looking around.

"Well I heard Levy telling Gajeel about your girls night," Cana said, "So I decided to come because I've got nothing better to do."

"And I invited Wendy and Juvia," Erza said, "and Mirajane, but she said she didn't think that she'd be able to make it." I sighed. I had planned on it just being Levy and Erza, but I couldn't ask the others to leave, now that they were here.

Natsu set me down on the bed and opened the window to leave.

"Why don't you use the door?" I asked, only half-heartedly.

"Nah," he said. He leaned down from the window sill and kissed me briefly on the lips before he jumped down, and was closely followed by a gaping Happy. I leaned over and closed the window so my friends wouldn't see the blush that had appeared on my cheeks, but when I turned back around I was attacked with questions.

"I knew I saw him kiss you earlier!" Levy exclaimed, "How long have you been dating?"

"I didn't know you like Natsu!" Wendy said incredulously.

"I have always suspected there was something between you and Natsu," Erza said.

"So you finally got a boyfriend, did ya?" Cana asked.

"Are you and Natsu really together?" Juvia asked. They were all looking at me expectantly, and I just didn't know where to start.

"How about you start from the beginning," Erza said helpfully.

"Okay," I said. "I guess I always sort of admired him," I confessed, "But not romantically. I don't know when I realized that I liked him, but I know I didn't accept it until I realized that I had to use the One Magic to break E.N.D.'s hold on Natsu."

"What's the One Magic?" Wendy asked.

"It's love," I explained, feeling my cheeks heat up.

"Really?" Cana asked, "It took you that long to accept that you had feelings for the guy?" Cana asked.

"Yah, I guess. I just didn't want to like him." I said. "I wanted a knight in shining armor, who had manners, and who _didn't _eat fire," I said. Everyone chuckled, and I smiled.

"I didn't want our friendship to be messed up, either," I said. "I had no clue that he might like me back, until our fight with E.N.D. Right before I passed out, I had the faintest inkling of a pressure on my lips, and I sort of thought that he was kissing me back."

"And was he?" Levy asked excitedly.

"Well, I asked him about it, and he said that he did."

"When did you ask him?" Wendy asked.

"When we went outside together at Porlyusica's. I asked him to take me outside so that we could talk in private."

"Ohh! That must be why Erza lied about having a back pain!" She said, looking at Erza. She nodded.

"Indeed, I could tell that you wanted to be alone. I thought something like that was going to happen."

"You did?" I asked.

"Mmhmm." Erza said. "I could tell something had happened between you two by the way he was treating you. I've never seen him look so… tender before." She paused, looking for the right word.

"I noticed that too!" Juvia said.

"Yeah, It kind of freaked me out," I confessed. "I thought there was something wrong with him. He seemed so sad, but of course, it was guilt." Erza and Juvia nodded, and the others just looked at me.

"What do you mean, why would he feel guilty? It wasn't his fault you got hurt!" Wendy said.

"I know that, and I think that he knows that, but since E.N.D. took hold of Natsu, and he hurt me, Natsu feels that if he had been stronger and fought off E.N.D. on his own, then I wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"But that's ridiculous," Levy said, and I shrugged.

"To us it is, but to Natsu it only makes since. But I do think that deep down he knows there was nothing he could have done. It's just a matter of getting him to accept that part of him. I'm not worried. I know he feels better about it since Porlyusica let him help tend to my wounds, so the more he totes me around until my leg heals, the better."

"I could heal your leg some more now!" Wendy offered but I shook my head.

"As much as I would love that, and want to be able to walk on my own, I think it would be better to let it heal on its own. It might be slower, but Natsu needs to help me to clear his conscience."

"That's so nice of you!" Wendy said.

"Alright, that's enough of this boring talk!" Cana said, "Get back to the good stuff! What happened when you and Natsu talked all alone?" Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Well, at first I didn't want to come right out and ask, so I beat around the bush a bit, but he didn't catch on, so I had to swallow my pride and ask him if he was kissing me back. He said that he was, and I asked him if he liked me, romantically, and he said that he did. Then he asked me, and I told him I did, and he said, 'Then I guess it's settled then.'" Everyone in the group let out an exasperated groan.

"I know. Then when I asked him what he wanted to do now, he asked what I meant." Another groan. "Then I explained to him that we couldn't just stay the way we were, and I asked him if he wanted to be together, or if he wanted to just be friends, and he said he didn't care, whatever made me happy."

"That sounds like him," Levy said, and I agreed with her.

"I know but it was so frustrating! But a bit after that he kissed me, so I think he wants to be together. I mean, he kissed me just now, then earlier at the guild, he kissed me on the forehead." Erza and Levy nodded. "So I think we are just going to wing it, and see where it goes."

"That plan sounds so you," Levy said, "It's the kind of thing I would expect you and Natsu to come up with." Everyone agreed with that, apparently.

"I don't know what else to do, like, I'm sure he has his own idea of how he wants things to go, but he won't tell me."

"Perhaps not," Erza said. "He might have been sincere when he said he was fine with whatever makes you happy. Natsu's not the type to conceal how he feels. He did just come right out and say he was kissing you back when you asked him didn't he?" I nodded. "I suspect that had you asked him if he had romantic feelings towards you prior to this he would have given you the same answer. He was never trying to hide it, he just never told you because it never came up."

"I guess you're right," I said. "He is pretty straight forward."

"And he's just a little childish like that too," Levy said. I nodded again. Childish he was.

"So what about you and Gajeel, Levy?" I asked, and her cheeks flared up red.

"W-what do you mean?" She asked nervously.

"Well I couldn't help but notice that you two have been very friendly recently," I said, grinning evilly at her.

"W-we're just friends, that's all!" She said.

"If that's the truth, then why are you blushing so hard?" Erza asked.

"Because the questions surprised me," she said.

"Surprised you so much you turned the same color as Erza's hair?" Cana asked. Everyone chuckled as Levy turned even darker red.

"Ok, so spill," I said. "I know that you like him, I can tell!" I said. She sighed, and began slowly turning back to a slightly less alarming shade of pink.

"Alright, maybe I do!" Everyone squealed girlishly, except for Erza, who smiled, and Cana, who hiccupped.

"So when did you start to like him?" I asked.

"I don't really know when it started, but I sort of realized it during the s-class trials when he offered to be my partner."

"I think you two make a cute couple," I said, and everyone nodded.

We spent the rest of the night chatting, talking about boys, and Erza did in fact bring up some of her more attractive enemies, but the subject changed quickly.

"So where does Jellal fit on this ranking of your most attractive enemies?" I asked, at my own peril. Sometimes Erza didn't react well to personal questions.

"Jellal is no longer on the list, because he is no longer an enemy of Fairy Tail," Erza said, her cheeks turning a slight pink.

"But he was at one time!" Levy said, "So he had to have been on the list at one time!"

"Jellal is rather attractive," Erza said thoughtfully. "Probably one of my more powerful opponents as well, but since he was being manipulated by Ultear at the time, perhaps I should judge her attractiveness instead."

I sighed in exasperation. I guess it made sense in a way, but what we really wanted to hear about was how she felt about Jellal, not Ultear.

"Come on Erza, enough of this crap!" Cana said, "Tell us how you feel about Jellal!" Erza sighed, as if giving up on keeping it away from us.

"Jellal was a dear friend in my childhood, we were very close. After all, he did give me my name."

"Really?" I asked. "I didn't know that!" Erza looked at me funny, like she thought I was making a bad joke.

"Of course you do, I told you and Natsu and Gray all about my childhood in the Tower of Heaven."

"You never mentioned that!" I said.

"Oh, well, my mistake. Previous to my stay in the Tower of Heaven I had no last name. I was 'just Erza'. Once we were thrown into our cells with all the other children, we exchanged names and made friends. Jellal was complaining about how he would never remember everyone's names because they were so weird, especially Wally's name, which made Wally angry. 'Oh yeah, what kind of name is Jellal Fernandez?' Jellal ignored him and approached me. He asked me what my name was, so I told him. 'What about your last name?' I told him I didn't have one, so he decided to give me one. 'Scarlet, like your beautiful hair, that way I'll never forget it' he said."

"That's so romantic!" Wendy cried happily.

"Is it? I had never thought of it that way. Jellal was just like that, kind and brave. I could never bring myself to truly hate him, even when we were fighting in the Tower of Heaven, because when I looked at him all I could see was that sweet boy who named me."

"How does Erza feel about Jellal now?" Juvia asked.

"Well now he's back to his old self. He's just as kind as he always was. Even when he had no memories, he was still him. He's always been a terrible liar though." She said, half laughing.

"Why do you say that?" Levy asked.

"He can't make eye contact when he's lying, and he always looks so sad. It goes against his nature to lie."

"Okay, but why did you say it?" Cana asked, "Has he lied to you recently?"

"He tried to tell me he had a fiancé after we kissed," she said.

"What?" We all shouted together. "You kissed him?" Erza nodded.

"Yah, it was before the Grand Magic Games, the night that Ultear unlocked everyone's second origin. We were talking about Simon, and he said he didn't deserve to live, that he wasn't strong like me, so I slapped him."

"You slapped him?" I asked, halfway between amusement and exasperation.

"Yah, I pulled him to his feet my his cloak, then I lost my balance and fell into him, and we fell down a cliff together. Jellal landed on top of me and we kissed." A faint blush snuck onto her face as she spoke. "After that he pushed me away, and said he had a fiancé. I could tell he was lying, of course, but I didn't call him out on it. No doubt he thinks I'd be happier without having romantic ties to a fugitive."

"What a stupid lie," Cana said, and Erza gave her a surprised look. "Did he honestly think you would believe that? He's on the run from the law, how's he supposed to pick up chicks like that?" Cana had a very good point about that.

After that we all decided to turn in, because there was a long day of work ahead of us.

"_Aquarius!" I cried. I ran to her side and knelt next to her bloodied body, cradling her head in my lap. "Aquarius, talk to me!" I sobbed. She opened her eyes slightly, and I reeled back in horror. They were streaming tears of blood, and glowing red with rage. She opened her mouth to speak, but blood poured out, muffling her words. What I could hear though, made my heart stop with guilt and grief. _

"_You couldn't save me, Lucy, you couldn't help me." I winced at the accusation in her voice. "You did this to me! You sacrificed me to save yourself and your friends!" She shoved me roughly away from her and rose into the air so that she towered over me. "After all I have done for you, you killed me!" _

"_No!" I said desperately. "No! You said that breaking your key wouldn't kill you! You told me to! You said that you would be alright!" _

"_You should have known better!" She pointed an accusing finger at me. "You're supposed to be a Celestial Spirit Wizard! You should have known this would happen to me!" _

"_I'm sorry, Aquarius!" I apologized, "I'm so sorry! I never wanted to hurt you! I didn't want to sacrifice you, but there was no other way to save my friends!" _

"_There _was_ another way! If you hadn't been so weak you could have defeated them on your own, without having to kill me! I could be alive right now!" Aquarius spat. Her blood sprayed everywhere, striking me on the face and burning me wherever it touched my skin. It was her hatred of me, burning into my flesh. _

"_But you're not dead!" Even as I said it though, I knew she was right. How could she look like this and be alive? Her entire body was covered in blood, seeping from cracks in her skin like cracks in porcelain. They must have been caused when I broke her key. _

"_How would you know? Leo only told you what you wanted to hear, that I was alright, to keep you from having a mental breakdown like the pathetic whelp you are. And you call yourself Layla's daughter. She would never be so weak that she would have to sacrifice one friend to save the rest. You are a disgrace to her name!" Aquarius shouted. _

"_I know!" I said, "I know I'm weak! I promise to you that I'll get stronger! I swear it! Nothing like this will ever happen again!" _

"_And what good will that do me?" She asked scornfully, "Nothing you do now will be enough to take back your weakness, nothing you do can bring me back. How pathetic are you, to wait until it's too late to try to get stronger? You disgust-" her voice cracked and broke, then cut off entirely._

_She clutched at her throat and coughed, and blood sprayed everywhere, hitting me, but this time it didn't burn. Tears began spilling down her face again. Her lips moved, but no words came out. _

"_Help me," I realized suddenly what she was trying to say. I watched in horror as the cracks in her body began to creep up her neck and onto her face, growing ever deeper._

_Little pieces of her began to crumble and fall off, and with each one, a piece of my heart died as well. She managed to find her voice again, but it was small, cracked and broken like her body._

"_I thought that you loved me," she said, as one of her hands broke off and shattered on the ground. _

"_I do!" I cried. _

"_Then save me!" She cried. Her words sparked something in me, and I was finally able to move again. I leapt to my feet, but it was too late. A great light shone out of the cracks in her body, and then exploded outwards, knocking me back several feet. I hit the ground and slid painfully, before slamming into a large piece of rubble. I pushed myself up and tried to wipe the blood off my face with my hand, but something was in my hand. I looked down at it, and saw it was the shattered remains of Aquarius's key. _

"_How could you?" I looked up at the source of the voice to see Scorpio standing in front of me, looking shell shocked. "How could you just kill her like that! How could you just sit there while she died!" He asked angrily. He advanced on me menacingly, with murder in his eyes. _

"_No, Scorpio, it's not like that! I tried to help her, I swear!" _

"_Don't lie to me! I watched you sit there and let her die! You didn't do anything to help her! You _killed _her!" His face darkened so that all I could see of it was the glowing madness in his eyes. "Now I'm going to kill you!" He growled. I tried to get away, to escape, but I was backed up against a wall. Trapped. His tail reared back, preparing to strike, I screamed. _

"Help me!" I screeched. I jerked upright and shielded my face with my hands. A pair of hands seized my arms and tried to pry them away from my face, but I struggled against them.

"Lucy!" I heard a voice say. It wasn't Scorpio. _It must be one of my other spirits, here to watch Scorpio take his revenge on me. _

I kicked out, and made contact with flesh. I heard a grunt of pain, but the hands didn't let go of me. Who would help me? I wondered. I could hear many voices calling my name. All of my spirits were there. If Scorpio hated me for what I did to Aquarius, then who wouldn't? She was all of their friends. All of them would hate me now, no doubt. All of them except for…

"Loke! Loke help me! Help me!" I cried. I fought hard against the hands that were trying to uncover my face and kicked out again, but this time my leg made contact with something hard and I cried out in pain.

"Lucy it's alright!" _They must be trying to trick me now, _I thought. _They must really hate me now. _

"Open, Gate of the Lion, Loke!" I cried, trying to open his gate without the key in hand. I pushed out as much magic as I could to make up for it, and pictured him clearly in my mind. "Loke, please!" All of the sudden the hands let go of me, and Loke's voice filled my ears.

"It's alright, Lucy, you're safe now." He said gently. I opened my eyes and blinked away the tears that blurred my vision, to see him sitting next to me. I threw myself at him buried my face in his shirt.

"Loke, it's Scorpio, he's angry at me for killing Aquarius! You have to tell him it wasn't my fault!" He stiffened, and for a moment I thought he was going to shove me away, that he was angry at me as well but he just pulled me tighter and began stroking my hair.

"Lucy, I've already I told you, Aquarius is fine, she's back home, with Scorpio, right now. She's probably having the time of her life."

"No, that's not possible!" I said, looking up at him. "I saw her die, I watched her die, there was so much blood, Loke, what do I do?" I asked desperately. He gave me a strange look, if I didn't know any better I would have said it was shock, but Loke already knew all this, didn't he? He took my face in his hands and wiped away the tears on my cheeks, although they were replaced by more at once.

"Lucy, you did not kill Aquarius, it was just a bad dream. There was no blood, she didn't die, Scorpio isn't upset. He's thrilled in fact, he's taken Aquarius on vacation to celebrate."

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes, they are very happy to be able to spend more time together. Do you want me to send him so he can tell you himself?" I shook my head. If Loke said so, I believed him.

"No. I don't want to bother them if they're happy." I said. Loke smiled.

"Now that's the Lucy I know and love," he said, kissing my hair. "You had a bad dream, that's all. It wasn't your fault." I nodded, sniffling. "Do you want me to go and get Natsu for you?" He asked. "I don't think you should be alone right now." I shook my head.

"Don't bother Natsu, I'm fine now." I said, wiping my tears and releasing my death grip on Loke's shirt.

"Do you want me to stay with you until morning then?" He asked. I shook my head again.

"I'll be fine now, I promise. Thank you for coming, Loke." He nodded.

"Are you sure? I don't mind. You shouldn't be alone."

"She won't be alone," Erza said, and I was half surprised to see her there, my dream had made me forget I was having a sleepover. Loke nodded.

"Oh, and before I go," he said, looking stern now, "don't try to summon me without using my key again, you'll use up to much of your magical power and hurt yourself." I nodded guiltily. He reached out and brushed the tears of my face again.

"Sorry," I said. He smiled gently, then disappeared into soft golden light. I looked around the room, everyone was giving me looks of mixed surprise and concern.

"Is Lucy okay?" Juvia asked. I smiled at her.

"I'm fine now, Juvia, thanks. I was just a little freaked out. Sorry if I woke you." I said.

"Don't be ridiculous, Lucy, you don't have to apologize," Cana said.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Levy asked. I saw a flash of Scorpio, standing menacingly over me, with intent to kill all over his face, and shook my head.

"No, I'm fine now, I promise." I lied. "You should all just go to sleep again," Levy gave me a look of disbelief that was mimicked on the rest of their faces and I sighed. "I was a little confused at first, but it was just a nightmare. You don't have to look so worried!" One by one they went back to sleep. Erza and Levy were the last ones to Lay back down. Erza switched the lights off, but climbed into bed with me instead of back into her sleeping bag. I didn't say anything, but I was grateful. It was soothing to have her back pressed up against mine.

I didn't sleep for the rest of the night, however, I just stared out of the window and watched as the sky lightened bit by bit until everyone woke back up.

"Hey Luce, are you ready?" Natsu asked as he opened the window. I turned to look at him as he hopped on the bed.

My apartment was empty, I had told the girls to go on to work without me, that Natsu would swing by on his way to pick me up.

I didn't tell them that I wanted to be alone for a while, because I didn't want them to worry. They could tell that I hadn't slept anymore that night, I think, but no one mentioned it. I tried to play it off like I wanted some alone time with Natsu, but I don't think that they bought that either.

"Yah," I said dully. "I'm ready."

"What's the matter?" He asked, moving further into the room.

"Yah, Lucy, you look terrible," Happy said, flying up and sitting on the arm of my chair.

"Thanks, cat." I said sarcastically. Natsu crouched in front of me so he could look up into my face.

"Luce," He said, "what's up?"

"Don't worry, I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well last night."

"Did Erza kick you in her sleep?" He asked knowingly.

"What? No, Erza didn't kick me in her sleep," I said, once again wondering what kind of weird childhood relationship he had with her.

"Did she snore then?" He asked, leaning back against the coffee table.

"Does she usually?" I asked, and he shook his head. "Then why did you ask?"

"There's a first time for everything," he said, grinning. "If it wasn't Erza, then what was it?" He asked.

"I had a nightmare," I said.

"You too, then?" He asked.

"Yeah, did you have a nightmare, too?" I asked disbelievingly.

"Yah," he said, scratching the back of his head and looking at the floor. He blushed faintly when he said it.

"Natsu woke up shouting and crying!" Happy said exuberantly. Natsu scoffed and blushed a little harder. "He was saying 'Lucy, Lucy, I'm sorry!'"

"Shut up Happy," Natsu said, standing up. He turned around so I could climb on his back, but I grabbed his shoulders and turned him around so he was facing me. I stood up, balancing myself on him, so that I could look into his face.

"Did you have a nightmare about hurting me?" I asked quietly. He blushed, but didn't look away this time.

"Yah, but it was no big deal, just a dream." Natsu said. I took his face in my hands and did for him what Loke did for me.

"Natsu, listen, it wasn't your fault, there was nothing you could have done. You don't need to feel guilty about it." I knew I was being hypocritical when said it, because I still felt guilty about Aquarius, but I still had to try. "I know how you feel," I said. His expression softened.

"Was your dream about Aquarius, Lucy?" He asked gently, and I nodded. He surprised me then by pulling me into a long hug. He held me tightly against his chest, and buried his nose in my hair.

"Scorpio tried to kill me," I whispered. "In my dream, Aquarius died. She didn't go back to the spirit world. She died. There was blood, and light, and her eyes burned with hatred."

"Lucy," Natsu breathed. I tried to stop there, to stop my voice from trembling and to stop myself from crying, but the words kept coming, and the tears started to flow.

"She exploded, and it knocked me back. Then all of the sudden I had her broken key in my hand, and Scorpio was looming over me, telling me he was going to kill me. I woke up right before he did it, but I didn't realize I woke up. I hid my face in my hands, and someone tried to pull them off, probably so I could see it wasn't real, but I thought they were one of my spirits, trying to get me to look Scorpio in the eyes as he killed me. Everyone else's voices turned into the voices of the rest of the spirits. I thought everyone was going to watch me die."

"How did you snap out of it?" Natsu asked carefully.

"I didn't know what else to do, so I summoned Loke, the only spirit I could think of that would never hate me, no matter what. He showed up and calmed me down, and the scolded me for summoning him without a key. He said I could hurt myself. Then he left." I said.

"He _left?" _Natsu asked, sounding angry. "He left you alone?" I looked up at him and shook my head.

"I wasn't alone, I had Erza and the others."

"You should have sent for me," he said, "you shouldn't have been alone."

"I wasn't alone! And besides, Loke offered to go and get you, but I told him not to. I didn't want to bother you."

"You never bother me, Lucy. Next time it happens I want you to send someone to come and get me, okay?" He said, surprising me. He looked deadly serious, so I nodded. He pulled me close again and buried his nose in my hair again. He was silent for a moment before he spoke again.

"It didn't work," was all he said.

"What didn't work?" I asked, confused.

"Your kiss, the one magic, whatever you want to call it. In my dream, it didn't work. It didn't break E.N.D.'s seal on me, and I killed you. Slowly." He said the last word slowly, like it pained him greatly to say it. I didn't ask him for details. I didn't want to know them, and he didn't want to give them. I pulled away slightly so I could look him in the eye, and he wiped away my tears absent mindedly.

"Well," I said, standing on my tip-toes so that I was closer to his eye level, "it worked in reality." I pressed my lips against his, and he responded, almost gratefully, with a sweet kiss that lasted for what seemed like an eternity. We stood in each other's embrace for a long time, just hugging, once we stopped kissing.

"You know, none of your spirits could ever hate you, no matter what you do. Loke's not the only one." I nodded gratefully.

"I hate to interrupt, but we should really get to work on the guild!" Happy said. Natsu and I let go of each other reluctantly.

"Sorry Happy!" Natsu said, turning around again for me to climb on his back.

After Natsu jumped back out of the window and I finished yelling at him to take the door, and I told him how I hurt my foot kicking around last night, I noticed he wasn't heading to the guild hall, but to the forest.

"Where are we going, Natsu?" I asked.

"Igneel said he wanted to get to know my friends better, and since you can't work anyway, I'm taking you to where he and the other dragons are staying. Happy'll stay too, so he can carry you home if anything happens and I can't come get you." Natsu said.

"What might happen?" I asked.

"I might be busy kicking Sting's and Rogue's butts," Natsu said. I laughed.

"Are you sure you can't stay too? I don't want to stay all day with a bunch of people I don't know all by myself, don't you think it'll be awkward?" I asked. Not that I didn't want to get to know Igneel. I was quite looking forward to it, but I didn't want to left to my own devices with five dragons I knew next to nothing about. What if they didn't like me?

"Nah, Igneel's easy to get along with," Natsu said.

"You just think that because he's your dad!" I said, "What if he doesn't like me?" I asked.

"You'll be fine, Luce, he'll like you."

"How can you be sure?" I asked.

"Because he's my dad, and I know him," he said. "Relax, Luce, I'm sure all the other dragons are nice too."

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't know about Skiadrum or Veslogia, but Metalicana raised Gajeel, he's bound to be hard to get along with."

"So avoid Metalicana," Natsu said, like he thought that I was over thinking things.

"I can't just avoid him! That'd be rude!" I said.

"So don't!"

I groaned in frustration, which pried a response out of Natsu. "Lucy, you're over thinking this. Igneel won't let anyone give you a hard time, even if they are hard to get along with." I sighed loudly in his ear.

"I still think you should stay with me," I said.

"I was going to, but Dad said that he wanted to talk to you on his own, to get to know you better without me around. I don't know why."

"Maybe he wants to ask me about all the trouble that you've caused when he wasn't around, and he doesn't think that he could get an honest answer from you," I taunted. From what I could see of his face it looked like the thought hadn't occurred to him. He looked a little nervous, like he thought he was going to get in trouble for something. I giggled.

"Nah," He said unsurely. "He probably just wants to get to know you." I giggled at the slight anxiety in his voice, and he chuckled along with me, still sounding nervous.

The walk, well for me it was a ride, to the forest was a pleasant one. Natsu told me a story about him and Happy going on their first mission together to run off some monster that was scaring villagers. The monster had almost got the drop on Natsu, and he would have died had it not been for Happy, who swooped down and carried Natsu out of danger just in time. It was this mission that cemented their friendship and their partnership. It was also the first time they fought together as a team. It was the beginning of their trademark fighting style. I laughed as he told me about how angry Makarov was when he got the bills for the several small homes Natsu and Happy managed to destroy in the fight. As it turns out, Natsu had always been reckless.

I told him some stories from when I was little, before my mother died, about me summoning spirits for the first time. He laughed at how I used to summon Aquarius when I was taking baths, and my initial reaction to Taurus.

We were both laughing loudly when we finally made it to the clearing where the dragons were staying. Natsu glanced around, spotted Igneel sitting amongst the other dragons, and headed over to him.

"Hey Igneel! I brought Lucy like you wanted me too!" He called shifting my weight to one arm and waving at his father.

"I can see that," Igneel said, turning to look at us and smiling. I had always thought that dragons, even the nice ones like Igneel, would be terrifying. I had no idea that their faces could be so expressive and gentle looking. Igneel's smile actually put me at ease a bit. He smiled and laughed easily, just like Natsu did. "I've been able to hear you two laughing ever since you entered the forest. It's good to know at least someone can tolerate this nuisance of a son I've got." I laughed loudly as Natsu shouted in indignation.

"Whaddya mean nuisance you old sac' a' scales?" I snorted loudly in amusement. The relationship Natsu had with his father was wonderful. Natsu glanced over his shoulder at me and grinned, apparently pleased with my reaction.

"What did you just call me you little meat sack?" Igneel retorted, lowering his head so that it was almost touching the ground and looking aggravatedly at Natsu.

"I called you a sorry old sac' a' scales, and what do you mean by meat sack?"

"I mean you're a disrespectful little meat sack who needs to be taught a lesson!" Igneel said, sitting back on his haunches and looking down on the two of us with a mixture of amusement and irritation on his face. He had that expression a lot when he was dealing with Natsu.

"Oh yah, old man? Bring it on!" Natsu said, waving one of his fists in the air at Igneel, and almost dropping me in the process.

"Natsu!" I said as I lost my balance and almost fell. He reached back and caught me just before I lost my grip completely.

"Umm, can you put me down before picking a fight with your father?" I asked.

"Yah, sorry Luce," he said sheepishly, walking over to a chair by the fire that had apparently been set out for me, as the other five residents of the clearing were much too big and heavy to sit there. Natsu set me gently on the chair and leaned down to kiss me sweetly on the lips. Happy made an irritating "oooo" sound, and a few of the dragons who were looking on chuckled. "I had better be going," He said as he straightened up. "I can't let those guys from Sabertooth out do me at building my own guild hall."

"At least you _can _help," I said bitterly, looking down at my hurt foot.

"Don't worry about it, Luce," He said, rumpling my hair. "Just focus on getting better." I smiled up at him and rolled my eyes, and he grinned.

"Say hello to my daughter for me, if you don't mind," Grandeeney said. Natsu nodded.

"Yes, tell Rogue I said hello as well," Skiadrum said, and the rest of the dragons also made requests for their children to be greeted on their behalf's.

"Sure thing guys," Natsu said turning away. He lifted a hand over his head to wave goodbye as he walked away, when a thought hit me and I called after him.

"Wait, Natsu, what am I supposed to do for lunch?"

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," he called over his shoulder before disappearing into the trees, leaving me alone with the dragons.

***A/N- I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because it took forever and it was really hard for me to write. I apologize if the dialogue in the scene with the girls was a little weird, I've never actually just sat around like that and talked about boys. I've sat and listened to my friends, but I was only half listening, because stuff like that bores me. Anyway I hope it wasn't too bad. I'm really looking forward to this upcoming chapter. I think it will be a lot of fun to write, and a lot of fun for you to read! **

**I would like to ask for prayers for my Papa. He has been committed to the ICU because his nose was bleeding profusely, and he was crying tears of blood. I'm not quite sure what's going on because no one ever tells me anything, and it's not because they are trying to protect me. My mom is a nurse she knows better than to hide the truth, that not knowing is worse than knowing, but I would appreciate your prayers. Depending on how it goes I may or may not have the next chapter up soon. I like to try and post new chappies that day of particularly upsetting chapters to make my readers happy. I hope it works! See you next time!**


	5. Bonus Chapter- Aquarius and Scorpio

**A/N- Hello and welcome to the first ever **_**In the END **_**bonus chapter! I don't know if I've mentioned this in an A/N before, but my goal is to publish every two weeks, on Monday, the same day as the new chapter. (2 weeks to give me plenty of time to write, proof-read, and then proof-read again.) My writing process is time consuming, (not that every writing process isn't) but my life is hectic, and I have band practices on Monday's too, so I need to give myself time to create quality chappies, as well as read other books and do something that isn't write 100% of my time. **

**My exception to this rule is when there is a particularly heart breaking chapter in the manga. *coughs* 413- 416 *coughs*, so you may have become accustomed to having a chapter every week. Sorry, I don't really think that's plausible for me at this point, but hey, if I have a weird lack of homework you might get a nice surprise! But to make up for this week's lack of actual chappie, heres you a quick bonus chappie. **

**Also as all of you who read the A/N's know, my Papa went to the hospital. Thank you all so much for your support and well wishes. I have some news, he's come home from the hospital, but he's not doing so well. His blood level was 8.2. Normal levels are 16 with 12 being passable, (So my mother the RN MSN says.) 8.0 is when they will typically give you blood transfusions, but Papa's never got that low. Uncle Johnny says that if they keep him on his blood thinners it will happen again, but he will bleed to death, and if they take him off of them than he will have a stroke and die. They just need to find that perfect balance where neither of those things will happen. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. Thank you all so much for the support, but for those of you who thought I meant Daddy, Papa is my grandpa. **

"Oh hey there, baby, how are- oh what's wrong, Aquarius, why are you crying?" Scorpio asked.

"What? It's nothing. The brat had to break my key to summon the Celestial Spirit King, I don't even know why I'm crying. I was sick of her anyway." Aquarius said, wiping the few stray tears from her eyes.

"She had to break your key? She was able to summon the King?" The words were pouring out of his mouth so fast he couldn't stop them. "Wait, didn't she summon Leo and Virgo, too? She had three gates opened at once?! Are you kidding me?!"

"Yeah, yes to all of it, except no, I'm not kidding. Lucy can't summon me anymore, my key is broken." She told him, looking away so he wouldn't notice the sadness in her eyes. He did anyway.

She had tried to make her voice sound nonchalant, but she couldn't hide the way it tremored. She also couldn't hide the fact that tears had begun streaming down her face again without her noticing.

Scorpio's heart ached for his girlfriend. He loved Lucy, too, but not as much as Aquarius did, no matter what she said. Lucy and Aquarius had always had a special bond, one that nothing could ever replace, and it was going to take a while for Aquarius to adjust. Not only to living full time in the spirit world, but to never seeing Lucy again. He knew better than to wipe away her tears, or even to mention them. He knew that Aquarius, despite her innocent, lovey-dovey act, didn't want to be coddled when she was upset.

"I'm really sorry," he ventured. Aquarius scoffed.

"For what? That moron won't be able to summon me from bogs, or dirty bathwater, or flowerpots again. I'm glad-" her last word was choked out by a sob that she just couldn't stop, racking her shoulders.

Scorpio's eyes widened in alarm. Aquarius certainly hadn't done _that _in a long time. Not since Layla died anyway. He scrambled around in his memory, trying to remember what had worked to comfort her back then, and it hit him. _Maybe, _just a _little _bit of coddling would work.

He gingerly wrapped one of his arms around her shoulder, and she turned and buried her face in his chest. He pulled her tightly to him, waiting for her to pull away, as she would when she was ready.

She didn't sob anymore, she didn't hide anymore, she just stood there, wrapped in Scorpio's comforting embrace as all of the fond memories she had made with Lucy raced through her mind. A few tears trickled silently down her face, but she was no longer trying to hide them. She would give herself 30 seconds of grief, then she would get over it and learn to enjoy her new life.

_Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven…._

"_Aquarius, be sure to take care of Lucy when I'm gone, my dear, precious Lucy. I know she'll love you. Protect her for me, will you?" _

"_Yes, Layla, anything for you." _

"_Would you stop summoning me every time you take a bath?" _

"_But I'm less lonely when you're around, Aquarius, even when you're angry with me." _

_Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve…._

"_Open, Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!" _

"_I'll have you know that Aquarius is the most vicious spirit I have a contract with!" _

"_Could it be that you and Scorpio are having problems Aquarius? When I summoned him earlier he wouldn't even look me in the eye."_

_Seven, six, five…_

"_It isn't enough, I need to summon another spirit to fight." _

"_No, Lucy, you could die!" _

_I have to do this, to protect my friends! Open, Gate of the Water Bearer!" _

"_But you're my friend too! I can't just sacrifice one friend to save the rest! There has to be another way!" _

_Three, two, one…_

"_Open, Gate of the Spirit King!"_

A final, single tear slipped from Aquarius's eye, and she pushed away from Scorpio, wiping her eyes.

"I'm alright now. I don't have to deal with her anymore, so let's go on vacation to celebrate!" She said, with mock enthusiasm.

Scorpio nodded, and took her by the shoulders, leading her away to their next vacation destination. Of course, he knew, by "Let's celebrate!" She meant, "I need to get away from the others for a while to let things sink in."

"Why don't we go to the beach?" He said, plastering on an enormous grin. He knew he was going to have to be strong for her this time, for a long time. He couldn't imagine what she was going through.

All of the sudden she stopped walking and gasped, a hand pressed to her heart.

"What's the matter?" Scorpio asked, alarmed.

"It's Lucy," she said, her face a mask of shock, and what could have been relief. "I had no idea that she felt this strongly, that she'd be able to…" Her voice faded away, and she straightened, her lips curving into what was almost a smile.

"Be able to what?" Scorpio asked.

"She's channeling me, my powers. She's actually doing it. I can feel her. It looks like she's a lot stronger than even I gave her credit for."

"Of course she's able to channel you," Scorpio said, smiling warmly at his girlfriend. "You two had the strongest connection out of anyone. It only makes since." Aquarius gave him a small, but sincere and grateful smile, for real this time, and he knew she was going to be okay.

***A/N- Okay wow, that was a lot heavier and sadder than most of my chapters, but since today's chapter was really light hearted and cute, it should be alright. This is my take on what would have happened immediately upon Aquarius's return to the Celestial Spirit World when Lucy had to break her key. I thought it would make a good bonus chapter, and I hope that you agree! Let me know if you think I should do a few more bonus chapters about other things that aren't mentioned in my story that you'd like to hear more about how they played out in my version. (I.e. Jerza, Gruvia, Gajevy reunions, etc. Maybe another, "Welcome Home Frosch!" sort of deal where he wanders around Magnolia with Lector, maybe even with responsible adult Lily as an escort. This was short, but I hope you liked it!**


	6. Chapter 5

***A/N- Hello and welcome the fifth installment of In The END. All rights for the original work go to Mashima -sensei. Fun fact: the original title of this story (and the one it still goes by on my computer) is "Natsu is END." Not very creative, I know, and total spoiler alert. So I decided it needed a better title. I'm actually really pleased with the title "In the END," but I sort all of my stories into folders titled with the abbreviations of the titles, and I like the abbreviation NEND better. I like to say it like it's a word and not an abbreviation. "In the END" sounds better, though, when you say the whole title. **

**So my librarian started watching Fairy Tail with her husband recently and she just finished the KOSS arc, and she couldn't believe the whole thing was filler, but I told her how HM -sensei oversaw the arc, and she accepted it then. We were talking about how the end, with Lucy falling from the sky, and Natsu trying to catch her, but her landing on him was perfect, because NaLu isn't particularly a fluffy couple, not really. I mean sure, they would have fluffy moments every now and then, but they would mostly joke around and have fun. Anyway, the librarian says that that scene would have been so much more perfect if Happy had been there to make a fat joke, and I tend to agree. That scene was hilarious, but it was lacking a certain blue cat we all know and love. **

**Prepare yourself for some laughs! Enjoy the story!**

"Don't worry about it," The Shadow Dragon said, "I'll prepare you something for lunch when you get hungry."

"I wouldn't want to cause you any trouble," I said, shifting in my seat to meet his eyes.

"Don't be stupid," he said, "I'd actually enjoy cooking for someone else again. I haven't gotten to do it in years." I don't know much about dragon facial expressions, but he seemed earnest enough, so I nodded.

"Alright, if you're sure it wouldn't be any trouble. Thank you," I replied, remembering how good Rogue's lunch was, and that he said Skiadrum taught him how to cook.

"No problem at all," he said kindly.

"Not to be rude, but you're not what I expected," I told him, thinking about how temperamental Rogue was. I had assumed he got it from his father.

"Did you expect me to be a man eating monster?" He asked playfully.

"No, actually, I expected you to be more temperamental and a little brooding, like Rogue."

"I take it Rios's temper hasn't gotten much better then?" He asked. I shook my head.

"I don't know what he's like when he's around people he knows better, but he gets mad a lot, and Sting is almost always the one who has to deal with it, usually violently." I said, glancing at Veslogia. He threw his head back and laughed loudly.

"He does, does he?" I nodded again.

"Yah, yesterday Rouge got really mad at Natsu while we were eating lunch. We were all sitting in a circle and Rouge reached out and grabbed Natsu by his scarf and started talking in this scary voice. Sting grabbed Rogue by the shoulders and threw him all the way across the courtyard." Veslogia laughed raucously while Skiadrum shook his head and apologized for his son.

"What was Rios, or Rogue, as I think he prefers, angry at Natsu for?" He asked, like he thought he already had an idea about what it was.

"He was mad because Natsu forgot to give him Future Rogue's message about keeping Frosch safe about a year from then." I said tiredly. "He said the day Fro died was the day the shadows finally managed to take him over and he lost control." Igneel shook his head and sighed.

"It wasn't your son's fault, Skiadrum, Natsu has a way of doing that to people," Igneel explained wearily. Natsu definitely could make people go a little crazy trying to deal with him sometimes.

"Has Rogue caused anymore trouble?" Skiadrum asked, still unconvinced of his child's innocence.

"I don't think Makarov has given him a chance. He's been keeping Sting and Rogue under strict watch. They manage to get each other into trouble a lot, though." Skiadrum and Veslogia both laughed at that.

"What about Wendy? How is she doing?" Grandeeney asked.

"Wendy's doing great. Her and Carla fight occasionally, but not very often. She's getting much stronger and braver. And she looks so cute and mature with her hair cut short, but miss her pigtails, her hair was so pretty." Grandeeney nodded.

"She does have very nice hair." The male dragons rolled their eyes. Apparently Wendy's hair wasn't very interesting to them.

"Tell me about that short girl I saw with my son," Metalicana said abruptly. _Yup, _I thought, _just like Gajeel. _

"Her name is Levy, she's my best friend."

"What's her relationship with Gajeel? She seems too nice to be his woman." I chuckled.

"You can't tell Gajeel this," I said, looking around instinctively, even though neither Gajeel nor Levy was anywhere near here. "But she likes him, definitely, and honestly I think that he likes her too, he might just not realize it yet." Metalicana nodded.

"What does she see in him, I wonder? He's always got such a foul look in his eye," Metalicana said.

"He's always been kind to her," I said, but then amended the statement. "Well he's been as nice as he is able to her since he joined Fairy Tail. Maybe he was trying to make up for trying to kill her and her team during Fairy Tail's war with Phantom Lorde."

"He tried to kill her? That sounds like him, the brute." I laughed halfheartedly.

"He wasn't actually trying to kill her, just make a statement. She was out of the hospital after a few days, anyway, and I was on my feet after my first encounter with him immediately."

"He tried to kill you as well? What sort of man abuses women on a regular basis?" I shrugged.

"It wasn't really like that. We were enemies, and Fairy Tail and Phantom had always had a rivalry, but my father's request to Phantom to get me back by any means necessary was the spark that ignited the flame."

"Tell me about this Phantom Lorde. Why did your father go to them to bring you back instead of asking you to return home on your own?" Igneel asked.

I explained to him about my childhood, how after my mother died I was all alone and how my father was cruel and distant. I told him how I ran away to join a wizard guild, which lead to me telling the story about how I first met Natsu. After that I told them about tagging along with Natsu to Mt. Hakubai to save Macao. They all chuckled light heartedly when I told them about how Natsu attacked Taurus, thinking he was another monster. Inevitably, the topic came around to what he did in his spare time.

"He always breaks into my house," I said. "And he never uses the door, he always uses my bedroom window, no matter what. Even this morning when he was carrying me, he jumped out of the second story window." Skiadrum, Veslogia, and Metalicana laughed loudly, while Grandeeney told Igneel that he was just like him. Igneel shook his head in exasperation.

"You know sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night, and I won't be able to figure out what is was that woke me, until he snores again that is." Veslogia roared with laughter, and Igneel gaped. "Natsu likes to climb into my bed in the middle of the night. He says it's really comfortable."

"I thought I had at least managed to teach that boy _some _manners. I'll have to give him a talking-to," He said, and Happy and I exchanged glances. Looks like I had accidentally managed to get Natsu into trouble with his dad after all.

"Can you give all of Fairy Tail a talking- to? Because they all do it." I added, trying to take some of the blame off Natsu, despite my promise, I didn't actually want Natsu to get into trouble. "I've come home to find Gray naked in my room, Erza going through my underwear drawer, and Cana sitting in my bathtub. There are no such things as boundaries at Fairy Tail. They all find different ways to break in, too. I'm pretty sure Erza picks locks, and I've actually _seen _Gray climb down the chimney, and I don't even want to know how Cana got in." All the dragons looked at me incredulously.

"What?" I asked.

"You just let them break in?" Veslogia asks.

"No!" I said indignantly. "I can't keep them out! They find ways in, no matter what I do!"

"Has Wendy ever broken into your home? I taught her to behave better than that," Grandeeney asked.

"No ma'am," I said. "Wendy has never broken in, well, not unless she was persuaded. Levy brought her last night, but I was having a sleepover anyway."

"It sounds like you and your friends are very close," Veslogia said. "You are very lucky."

"I guess so, but I'd feel a whole lot luckier if I didn't have to hide my underwear to be sure I won't come home to Natsu wearing it on his head."

"Please tell me your kidding about that," Igneel said, sounding horrified.

"I wish I was," I replied. Igneel gave me a look that was equal parts exasperation and frustration. Suddenly remembering that I was speaking to Natsu's father, I tried to distract him from what I had just said.

"But it's not so bad sometimes. Once, I followed him home to get revenge for him breaking into my house all the time. I waited for him to leave, and then snuck in." Igneel snickered.

"While I was there, I noticed all these job fliers on the wall. There were job fliers from every job he's ever went on there, I think. He keeps souvenirs from all the jobs too. He had my maid costume from the first job we ever went on together. I don't know how he got his hands on it, but he had it. On the flier for that job he had stuck a note that said, 'first job I went on with Lucy' with a smiley face next to it. It was very sweet. Anyway, I stayed there for ages and ages waiting on him, but he never came, so I eventually went home. When I went home he and Happy were asleep, propped up against the bed. They had been waiting on me the whole time with a job for us. My rent was due soon and he remembered and found us a job."

Igneel smiled warmly as I finished my story.

"He must care about you a great deal." He said. I smiled.

"I guess so," I replied, blushing.

"He was very animated when he was telling me about all the adventures you two have had together. Very funny stories they were," he teased.

"What did he tell you?"

"Well, he told me all about your 'delicious' sounding spirits."

I smacked my forehead in exasperation. Of course he would have described Cancer as delicious. "He told me that one of them calls you -ebi, and another -hime and one of them makes sexual comments at you during battle."

"That would be Taurus," I said. "The Golden Bull. He's powerful and loyal, but a pervert."

"Why don't you tell him to stop?" Grandeeney asked.

"Well it's just part of who he is," I said. "Some of my spirits can be crazy sometimes and it makes me a little uncomfortable, but they're my friends, and I can't ask them to change just to make me feel better."

"I would like to meet some of these spirits, sometime," Igneel said.

"Well you've already met Loke, that is Leo, the one who came to visit me at Porlyusica's," I reminded him.

"You mean the wild one who kept proposing marriage to you? He's the leader of Zodiac Spirits?" He asked incredulously. I nodded.

"Yah, that's Loke alright. No matter what he says, I don't believe that everyone is alright. I want to give them plenty of time to heal before I have to use them again," I said, then an idea hit me. "But," I pulled two silver keys from my belt and stood, supporting all my weight on one leg. "Open, Gate of the Little Dog, Plue! Open, Gate of the Harp, Lyra!" Two magic circles appeared on the ground in front of me as the gates opened. Lyra and Plue materialized in shrouds of soft golden light.

"Pu-Pun!" Plue said, twirling around on one foot.

"Hey, girl!" Lyra chirped excitedly. "It's been forever since you've called on me! I was starting to feel neglected!" She pouted.

"Sorry, Lyra, things have been a bit crazy lately. I haven't had any time to just relax in a long time."

"So what do you want me to sing for you this time?" She asked, taking the chair that I had been sitting in.

"Uh," I said, not wanting to ask her to stand up. Deciding to stand for as long as I could, I went for introducing Lyra to her audience. "Um, Lyra, I want to introduce you to Igneel, Grandeeney, Metalicana, Skiadrum, and Veslogia. They are the dragon slayer's parents." Lyra looked up at them and squeaked in a mixture of shock and fright.

"Ah! Lucy, you didn't tell me there were dragons here!" She cried.

"I thought you would have noticed," I said cholerically. "It's alright, they're friends." I added. She relaxed a bit, pulling her harp closer and looking up at me, waiting for a request.

"Just sing whatever you want," I told her. At that Lyra closed her eyes and began to play.

It was a beautiful song about love and hope that struck a chord in me. There was no doubt in my mind that the touching words of the song were working their magic in the hearts of the dragons as well. Lyra had a special talent for reading the emotions of her listeners.

When the song ended there were a few moments of silence where the dragons sat in awe. I started clapping, and the dragons joined in, with what was obviously their version of applause. They each beat their tails thunderously on the ground, causing great echoing crashes that shook the ground and sent the birds out of the trees and into the air.

The ground trembling knocked me off balance, and without thinking, I put my bad foot on the ground to balance myself. I yelped as my knee collapsed from pain and sent me crashing to the ground. The dragons stopped applauding at once, looking guiltily at me. Lyra looked down at me in surprise for a moment before reacting.

"Lucy! What happened? Are you alright?" She leapt to her feet and set her harp to the side. She crouched next to me and offered her hand. I took it, and she helped me to my feet and into the chair.

"Pun!" Plue said worriedly.

"It's nothing," I said, rubbing my ankle gingerly, "just a leftover injury from the battle with E.N.D." She nodded, but still looked confused.

"But Leo said you were better!" For a moment I was surprised that everyone had been talking about me, but I shook that off.

"I am better. My back is completely healed now. But, my ankle was broken and it will take more time to heal." Lyra nodded again, now looking guilty.

"You should have said something, if I had known I would have let you sit down!"

"It's alright Lyra," I said as Plue climbed into my lap. "I've done nothing but sit and lay down for ages, I wanted to have an excuse to stand for a while." Lyra still looked unconvinced, but didn't say anything else.

"Pun-Pu-Pun!" Plue said. I wish I could understand him like Natsu claimed he could.

"Maybe the cat should go and get you some ice," Igneel suggested.

"I'm fine, really," I said, shaking my head.

"Igneel is right. Happy," Grandeeney said, "the child's leg has already started to swell."

"Aye, sir!" Happy cried, saluting. He zoomed away over the trees.

Lyra sang another song to take my mind off my ankle, which had started to throb, while we waited on Happy to get back. It took a surprisingly long time, but when he turned up, it became obvious why.

A few minutes before Happy came back I started hearing sounds of people crashing ungracefully through the underbrush, and people arguing. The sounds grew steadily louder and louder until Natsu, Gray, Erza, Wendy, Gajeel, Levy, Sting, and Rogue broke through the tree line, with Happy in the lead.

"Happy we asked for ice, not the entire guild!" I said.

"I know," he replied, "but I couldn't think of anywhere to find ice, so I brought Gray instead, and Natsu overheard me telling him, and decided he wanted to come. Then Natsu invited Wendy, and Gajeel overheard and decided he was coming. He invited Levy. Sting and Rogue wanted to come to, so they brought Fro and Lector. When she everyone leaving Erza decided it was time to call an early lunch break and tagged along too." I rolled my eyes. I should have known he wouldn't have done the job right. Natsu walked up to me and patted me on the head.

"How are you doing, Luce?" He asked. "Hey Lyra." He added. She waved cheerfully at him. Plue climbed down off my lap to cling to Natsu's leg, saying something. Natsu laughed and patted Plue on the head. Plue let go of his leg and ran off to drool on one of Igneel's toes after that.

"I'm alright," I lied. My leg was throbbing painfully.

"Get out of the way, pyro," Gray said, pushing Natsu aside and putting his hands together to begin to cast his maker magic spell.

"Don't tell me what to do, streaker!" Natsu said angrily, shoving Gray back.

"Guys, can you stop fighting?" I called over the commotion, but either they didn't hear me or they were ignoring me, probably both.

"I was trying to help your girlfriend you moron!" Gray said. I felt my cheeks heat up when Gray called me Natsu's 'girlfriend', but luckily no one was watching me, all eyes were on the brawling pair.

"Don't call me a moron you naked freak!" Natsu said. Natsu leapt at Gray, and Gray sprung forward as well. I watched for a bit as they brawled, throwing punches and kicks and insults back and forth, not using magic. Erza decided it was time to step in when they almost knocked over my chair without noticing.

"ENOUGH!" She cried, seizing both of them by the ear and flinging them in opposite directions. "We came here to visit Lucy and the dragons, not fight like idiots!"

"I'm sorry!" They replied together. Both of them got up from the ground and made their way to my chair, reaching me at the same time. They glared daggers at each other, but didn't argue anymore.

"Ice make, stool!" Gray said, and a small stool appeared at my feet. "Here, so you can prop it up too." He said.

"Thank you," I said, lifting my foot painfully and resting it on the stool, which was just the right height. Everyone separated into groups, sitting on the ground in front of their own parents. Levy went with Gajeel, but Gray and Erza stayed to talk with Igneel. Rouge was sitting in front of Skiadrum, pouting. Skiadrum was probably scolding him for losing his temper or something.

I decided to send Lyra back home, but let Plue stay. He and Fro seemed to be having fun, and I didn't want to alarm him when his new friend suddenly disappeared.

"So I hear that you like to break into this poor girls house," was the first thing Igneel said to his son. Natsu shot me a look of betrayal that said, _I can't believe you actually got me into trouble. _

"It's not like I do anything bad! I just go to hang out!" He said defensively.

"That doesn't make it right, or polite." Igneel said in a scolding tone. Natsu spluttered angrily and crossed his arms, pouting. Igneel looked like he was going to go on scolding Natsu, but I didn't want him to bring up the underwear thing, because it might give Natsu ideas, so I interrupted.

"Really," I said, catching Igneel's attention, "It's not all that bad, just annoying. It's not like he and Gray get into fights in my house, they don't break things. And he's never stripped in my house like some people." I gave a pointed look at Gray, who tried to make and innocent face, but didn't quite manage it since his clothes lay abandoned on the ground next to him.

"I told you I was already naked when I got there!" Gray tried. I rolled my eyes as Igneel laughed, but my plan had worked. Igneel was no longer scolding Natsu. In fact he was looking appraisingly at Gray, who squirmed under his intense gaze.

"What do you have against clothes?" He asked eventually, which made all of us laugh loudly. Even Wendy and Gajeel, who were conversing with their own parents, overheard and chuckled.

"I don't have anything against clothes, it's just a habit," Gray said, blushing.

"How does a habit like that form?" Igneel asked. Gray told him briefly about having to train in the snow in his underwear so he could learn to control the cold. "That explains shedding clothing in battle, but when you're just sitting around, shouldn't you be able to keep your clothes on?" Igneel asked. Natsu was rolling on the ground laughing.

"Shut up, flame brain," Gray said. He didn't say much else, though, because Erza and I were laughing as well.

"And what about you, what sort of magic do you use?" Igneel asked Erza. In reply Erza requipped from her construction clothes to her usual shirt with a blue ribbon and skirt.

"It's called the Knight, and I use it to requip into different armors as well as change my weapons during battle," she explained. Igneel nodded, seeming impressed.

"Lucy's been telling me about you all," Igneel said, and they glanced at me.

"All good things, I hope," Erza said merrily. Igneel chuckled.

"Mostly." Right then my stomach growled loudly, and everyone turned to look at me.

"Oh!" Skiadrum exclaimed loudly, "I'm sorry Lucy, I promised I'd make you lunch, didn't I?" Everyone in the clearing looked at me now. I blushed.

"Oh, that's alright," I said, waving my hands at him, "you don't have to do that."

"Nonsense. Rios, go and catch me something to cook. Make it something big since we've got company." Rogue spluttered, whether it was at being assigned to hunt for everyone else's food, or being called by his given name, I wasn't sure.

"I'll go too," Sting said.

"I want to help!" Wendy piped up. After that Natsu and Gajeel volunteered their help as well.

"Perhaps I should go with them to ensure they stay out of trouble," Erza said, standing. Happy trailed after Natsu, telling him he should catch some fish.

"That's probably a good idea," I told her. After the group left to find food for us, it was just me, Plue, Levy, Gray, the exceeds, and of course the dragons.

"I wonder what they'll catch," I said aloud.

"Knowing my son, probably something poisonous or made of metal," Metalicana said, making Levy giggle.

"Erza is with them, so she'll keep them bringing back anything too dangerous, but maybe me or Levy should have went, just to be sure." I said, "Erza's smart, but when she gets worked up she can be a little unreasonable." Gray nodded while Levy looked worriedly after them.

"I think they'll be fine," Levy said, but she didn't sound too confident.

"How are Sting and Rogue with this sort of thing? Are they good at discerning poisonous plants and animals?" I looked over at Frosch and Lector, who had stayed behind.

"Um," Lector said, worriedly which was answer enough. We sat quietly, wondering if we should go after them, when there was a sudden explosion, and the ground shook. A wave of flames flashed above the trees. Gray and I exchanged a worried glance.

"Fire Dragon roar!"

"He's going to burn down the forest isn't he?" I said.

"Fro thinks so!" He said cutely. I looked over to where Fro and Plue were playing together while Lector listened starry eyed to Lilly's stories about Edolas.. Skiadrum and Metalicana were talking about something or other, while Igneel and Veslogia were asking Gray about the Grand Magic Games. Gray was describing Natsu's fight with Sting and Rogue.

"So you're saying that Natsu defeated _both _my son _and_ Rogue while they were using dragon force, _and he didn't even have to use dragon force himself?" _Veslogia asked incredulously."What sort of monster child did you raise, Igneel?" Skiadrum stopped mid sentence with his argument and goggled.

"What did you just say! That pink haired punk defeated our sons? No offense Igneel," Skiadrum added. Igneel's neck had taken on a prideful arc, and he chuckled good naturedly.

"None taken. While he may be powerful, he is indeed a punk." I giggled.

"Who're you calling a punk?" Natsu called, and we all turned to see him emerging from the trees, hauling two large boars on his shoulders. Happy flew behind him carrying a string of fish, and Erza was behind them, carrying four boars. Wendy carried a basket of herbs she had obviously picked. Gajeel also had two boars, and Sting and Rogue each carried one. All of the boars had scorch marks on their fur, like Natsu had tried to cook all of them before they got back to the clearing.

Natsu built a huge fire, with the help of Igneel, and they placed the boars and fish over the fire. Skiadrum occasionally added some of the herbs that Wendy had picked as they cooked. It smelled wonderful. My stomach growled louder and louder as the meat was cooked more and more.

When it was finally finished the food was distributed among everyone. The dragons each got a whole boar, which most of them downed in one bite. Gajeel sliced large pieces off for everyone, and Happy gave each of the exceeds a fish. Natsu immediately started digging in.

"This is really good!" He said through a mouthful of pork. Igneel whipped his tail around and smacked Natsu across the back of his head.

"Wha' 'he 'ell?" He shouted at Igneel, who whipped him across the head again.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," he scolded. Natsu swallowed his food angrily and turned to face him.

"Why not? I got stuff to say and food to eat!" I suppressed a giggle, thinking that it might just nullify what Igneel was saying if Natsu thought that I thought talking with your mouth full was cute.

"Because it's rude!" Igneel said, he pointed his tail at me and I sat up straighter, the picture of good manners. "You are in the presence of a lady!" I blushed slightly at that, but continued to eat my food in a respectful manner.

"Who? I don't see a lady," Natsu said, looking around me, like he thought maybe the lady was hiding behind me. Igneel smacked him across the head with the tip of his tail again, and Natsu shouted in protest.

"What Lucy sees in a disrespectful little punk like you I'll never understand," he said, shaking his head.

"You meant Lucy? Lucy ain't no lady!" I snickered as Igneel wrapped Natsu around the head yet again. "You see!" He said, pointing at me, "That sure ain't a lady-like sound if you ask me!"

Igneel and Natsu bickered back and forth for a while, Natsu started insisting on responding to everything anyone said with a mouthful of food. I barely finished my first helping, but Natsu, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue all went back for fourth helpings. All of the food was consumed within the hour, which shouldn't have surprised me, considering who I was eating with.

We sat and talked for a little while longer before Erza announced that it was time for them to leave and get back to work. Everyone got to their feet reluctantly, bidding their parents and me farewell. Natsu patted the top of my head and said he would be back later to come and get me, and that he, Erza, and Gray were coming over that night. I rolled my eyes and said alright. It's not like if I said no that they'd listen to me anyway.

I watched their backs retreat into the trees and sighed, feeling lighter than I had in days. I loved each and every one of them to death, even Sting and Rogue who I didn't really know. They seemed nice enough. My group of friends made it pretty much impossible for me to be sad or lonely for very long, which I appreciated. If it weren't for them I'd probably still be in bed crying.

"I'm so lucky to have such great friends," I said. "Even if I do have to hide my underwear."

"So what was Gajeel like when he was young?" I asked Metalicana a few hours later.

"He was a horrible child." Metalicana said. "He was a smart ass, he was rude, and he always acted so angry." I giggled, that sure did sound like Gajeel.

"Surely he couldn't have been all bad," I laughed.

"Well, he was at least, a little intelligent." I laughed again. Despite his harsh words, I could tell that he really cared about Gajeel.

"Are there any really embarrassing stories I could use to hold over his head in the future?" I asked.

"I like you, runt." He said approvingly, looking at me as if he had never seen me clearly before. I had thought he might appreciate a meaner request. I smiled.

"Thank you."

"There is one that he will absolutely hate me for telling you," He said, grinning maliciously now. "When he was very little, and I had just taken him in, he was afraid of the rain. Every time it would rain he would cry and scream."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because, I am the Iron Dragon, and he thought that I would rust and fall apart if I got rained on. Stupid little squirt," He said, but I could actually hear the affection in his voice this time. I couldn't stop myself from picturing a baby Gajeel with chubby cheeks and short little legs crying and screaming in the rain, and completely lost it.

"Oh… My... Gosh…" I gasped, "That...Is.. Hilarious." Metalicana laughed gently too.

"Yes, it was quite funny. And for a while he couldn't pronounce my name. I was 'Malicana'." I snorted loudly again. Indeed, as Natsu had said earlier, I was not acting very lady-like.

"Oh my goodness, 'Malicana' that's too cute. I might have to tell Levy about that. How old was he when he started calling you Metalicana?"

"Actually he only started calling me that after I bonded with him', because he had an 'image' to uphold."

"Oh. My. Goodness." I said. I was torn between the cuteness and hilarity of that story. "You know he wanted an exceed." I said. "He cried and hugged Lily when Lily first came to Earth-land. It was adorable."

"What a wimp," Metalicana said.

"I don't know about that, he picked the scariest freaking exceed he could have. Lily is really good with a sword, like spars with _Erza _good." I said. Metalicana nodded his approval of that.

"At least there is that then."

Wendy's childhood stories and Natsu's were exactly what I expected them to be, however. Wendy was sweet and slightly timid and loved everything. Natsu almost burned down multiple forests on several occasions by accident, because he wasn't being careful. Wendy tried to heal every injured animal she ever met, and Natsu tried frequently to wrestle with things that were bigger than him and had a good deal more teeth.

I found myself having a wonderful time, laughing and joking with my friends parents, and the time passed quickly without me noticing. Soon the sun was disappearing behind the tops of the trees and Natsu showed up to get me. We had all been laughing at a story about Natsu trying to take a forest Vulcan on when he barely knew any magic. He had come back to Igneel all beaten up and tried to act like nothing happened, and when he finally accepted that he couldn't hide the fact he'd been in a fight he kept saying, "You should see the other guy."

"What's so funny?" He asked as he approached me.

"Nothing Natsu," I said. I looked up at him and pointed to a slight bruise on his cheek, "Have you and Gray been fighting again?"

"No," He said, and I gave him a disbelieving look, "Alright yes, but you should see him." That caused all of the dragons and I burst out laughing loudly. Igneel actually had tears of laughter running down his scaly cheeks, and I couldn't breathe for laughing. I doubled over in my chair and clutched at my aching stomach.

Several minutes later I regained the ability to speak, and I sat up to look at a very confused Natsu.

"I still don't get it," he said. Igneel and I exchanged a glance and grinned.

"It's nothing, Natsu, I just asked Igneel to tell me some stories about when you were little, that's all." Natsu's eyes flitted between his father and I for a moment before he responded.

"He told you about the Vulcan didn't he?" Natsu asked, his face turning slightly pink. I nodded and laughed again. Natsu rolled his eyes and crouched down so I could climb onto his back.

"Yah, yah, Gray and Erza are already at your place, so we had better be going." Natsu said. I slid off of my chair and bid everyone farewell.

"Bye, everyone! I'll see you later! I had so much fun today!" I waved goodbye as we walked away, followed by the farewells of all the dragons.

"So how'd it go?" Natsu asked as he walked.

"It went really good. I had lots of fun. Metalicana actually turned out to be pretty cool. He told me some really cute stories about Gajeel when he was a kid."

"Really, like what?" Natsu asked interestedly.

"Not telling. If I tell you, you'll just tease him and then I won't be able to use the stories for blackmail."

"What would you want to blackmail Gajeel for, Luce? That's kind of cold hearted."

"I know, but I've got to pay my rent somehow, and I can't work just yet," I said, feeling kind of bad about it now.

"I'll go out on a job for you if you really need me to," Natsu said. "It's not like I haven't done it before."

"I know," I said, blushing, "but if you left I'd be lonely." ***A/N- I'm actually really sorry about this guys. Too soon. **

"I wouldn't be gone for long."

"I know, but I'd miss you. Who would I talk to when I was sad about Aquarius?" I hid my face in his shoulder so he couldn't see my pink cheeks or my tear filled eyes.

"Alright," He said, "I'll stay." ***A/N- There, I fixed it. **

"Thanks, Natsu." I said.

***A/N- Sorry to do this to you guys, (except that I'm not. Cliffies are my specialty and my favorite thing to do, but I've decided so far to spare you from that. Mostly because of how painful cannon has been recently. I don't know how long I will remain merciful, though.) I really couldn't think of a better place to end this chapter. I almost ended it when Lucy said she'd be lonely if Natsu left, but I thought that would be too painful. Fan fiction is supposed to put your heart back together after cannon rips it apart, not step on the pieces with cleated shoes. Well that's what I think anyway. **

**There will probably be some heart break in **_**In the END **_**but not just yet. Right now it's still mainly fluff, but I think we will start to delve into some of the plot next chapter, as well as some of the things I have admittedly forgotten. But today during math I wrote a list of things to keep in mind and work into **_**In the END**_** where I accidentally forgotten. Without going into too many spoilers: Gray's Devil Slaying, Gruvia, Lucy's new powers, and some other stuff. I apologize to Gruvia shippers who might be reading this. I don't really ship Gruvia, so I forgot about it. It's not like I **_**hate **_**the ship. I like it, but I'm just not into it, really. But I didn't forget about them completely. **

*****~~~Bonus, Bonus, Bonus~~~*****

**So I don't think this actually made the final cut of chapter two, because it interrupted the flow of the story and I couldn't make it fit, but in the second time Lucy wakes up, (the one where it is still dark) Lucy looks over to see Juvia asleep on Grays bed in the same manner that Natsu was sleeping on Lucy's bed. While Lucy was watching them, Juvia sniffed and muttered something in her sleep, ("I'm sorry Gray -sama.) In my version of the story that was supposed to be right after Juvia told Gray about what happened. Maybe I'll write it and make it a bonus chapter, if you're nice to me ;P. **

**See you next time!**


	7. Chapter 6

***A/N- Hey guys! I'm glad that you have clicked on my story **_**In the END. **_**I hope you are enjoying it so far. Since the chapters are pretty lengthy and this is the **_**sixth **_**one, I'm going to go ahead and make the assumption that if you've made it this far that you at least like **_**something **_**about it. If not, you should click off this story right now and go do something you enjoy. Life's too short for you to be wasting your time reading a fan fiction you don't even like. Go enjoy yourself, smile. Pet a dog or cat, climb a tree, re-watch your favorite arc of Fairy Tail, or some other anime. Dip an Oreo in some milk, I promise I won't be offended if you never read another chapter! Go enjoy life, you have my blessing!**

**I do not own Fairy Tail, or any of the characters, but I wish I did. Sadly I cannot, but I can write cute fluffy fan fiction to make me happy when cannon is sad. So why am I still writing this? Let's get on with it then!**

When Natsu and I entered my home through the window Erza, Wendy, and Gray were already there, along with…

"Juvia?"

"Hello, Lucy, Juvia hopes that it's alright she's here. Gray -sama invited me." I looked from Juvia to Gray, who was blushing faintly, and suppressed a grin. It seems Natsu wasn't the only one had a new girlfriend.

"It's fine, Juvia, the more the merrier," I said. Natsu set me down on the bed before reclining with his feet propped up on the footboard. He never had any qualms about making himself at home, at least.

"Man, I'm beat," he said. "You know, I had to carry Lucy to the forest then work all day, then carry her back! You're pretty heavy, you know," he said, like he didn't know it was an insult. He probably didn't really, but that didn't stop me from getting mad.

"Shut up you jerk! You can't just say that when you're reclining on _my _bed. I could always kick you out, you know!"

"But then you'd be lonely," he said seriously.

"Shut up," I said, blushing. That's the last time I would ever say anything sweet to Natsu.

"Why would Lucy be lonely if her other friends are here?" Juvia asked curiously. I spoke before Natsu had another chance to embarrass me.

"I wouldn't, if everyone else were here." Natsu chuckled, but didn't say anything. I guess he had been teasing me after all, jerk.

"So Lucy, how was your day with the dragons?" Erza asked.

"Oh it was a lot of fun," I said, glad for the change in topic.

"So what were Gajeel and Wendy's parents like?" She asked.

"Almost exactly how I thought they would be, except Metalicana's nicer than I thought. Grandeeney is very kind and motherly, as well as proper. You should have seen her face when I told her how you guys always break in, she thought Wendy did too, and she was so mad."

"Yah, Lucy go me in trouble with Dad!" Natsu burst out suddenly.

"We know," Gray said, "We were there when he was scolding you, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Natsu said, quieting back down to listen to me tell my story to everyone.

"Metalicana kept saying really mean things about Gajeel, but you could tell how much he cared about him. You should hear some of the stories he has on Gajeel. I was thinking of telling Gajeel I would tell them to the whole guild if he doesn't take a job and pay for my rent or something."

"Would Lucy really do that to Gajeel -kun?" Juvia asked.

"No, I don't want to embarrass him that badly. I did think of telling them to Levy, though."

"Juvia would love to hear stories of Gajeel -kun's childhood," she said animatedly. I thought for a moment about that. They had been in Phantom together, hadn't they?

"Well I suppose I could tell _you _Juvia, since you guys have known each other for a long time. You wouldn't tease him too badly would you?" Natsu sat straight up in indignation.

"What's up with that, Lucy? You'll tell her, but you won't tell me?" I nodded.

"I'm not going to tell you because you'll tease him, but _Metalicana _probably would, if you asked," I said, and Natsu grinned. I knew the next time he went to see Igneel he would ask Metalicana for all the dirt on Gajeel. Metalicana would probably give it to him too, but that was his business, not mine.

"What about Sting's and Rogue's dragon's then? What were they like?" Gray asked.

I explained to them my surprise at Skiadrum's levelheadedness, how I had expected him to be more temperamental like his son. We wondered where Rogue got his temper from, if not his father.

"Maybe he just has a lot of pent up rage?" I postulated. Everyone shrugged. "Skiadrum did say that he'd always had that temper, I don't suppose that he could have inherited it from his birth mother or father could he?" I asked.

"Can you inherit temperament?" Gray said.

"I don't know," Erza said, "Lucy are you anything like either of your parents?" For a second I wondered why she asked me in particular, then, I remembered with a pang, that I was in a room filled with orphans/ foster children. Although now I fit into that category as well, I had spent much more time with my parents than my friends had. I shook off the sudden cloud of depression that had drifted over me and thought about it for a minute.

"Well, my mother was always so graceful and caring. I never knew her to raise her voice at anyone, except for maybe once or twice. She always loved her spirits dearly, as well. She was the one who taught me that spirits aren't tools, they're our friends. Of course that lesson took on a whole new meaning once I figured out who Loke was." Everyone chuckled in agreement. "Capricorn tells me that I'm her spitting Image, but Aquarius says I have none of her grace and elegance." Everyone laughed again.

"My father though, had a horrible temper."

"So you're more like him then?" Happy asked.

"Shut it, cat!" I said angrily. I took a deep breath before I started talking again. "For most of my life he was cruel, almost emotionally abusive. You know when he hired Phantom Lorde to kidnap me and bring me back to him, it was so he could marry me off to some rich man's son, to benefit the Heartfilia railways. He didn't even want me back to apologize or try to make up."

"That's horrible," Juvia commented, and I nodded.

"When I was little I would try and get his attention away from his work, by bringing him food or treats, just so I could spend some time with him. I would always leave his study in tears, because he'd shouted at me to go away, that he didn't have time to play my stupid games."

I had to take a moment to gather my thoughts and get my emotions under control before I continued speaking. If I wasn't careful I'd start crying, and I didn't want to do that after all the crying I'd been doing recently.

"I think he must've been kind once, for my mother to have loved him, and I sort of saw a bit of what I think was his old self just before Tenroujima. Then Cana's confession to Gildarts inspired me to make up with my own father. Then we were trapped in suspended animation for those seven years, and my father grew sick and died just a month before we were able to return home."

I took another deep breath and exhaled slowly. I was taken by surprise when Natsu reached out and took my hand in his. He had his eyes closed like he was sleeping, but apparently he had been listening. He squeezed my hand gently, without opening his eyes. I smiled at him, although he didn't see it, and I felt some of the heaviness in my heart lift.

"Maybe I get my temper from Aquarius," I said brightly. "After Mom died I was lonely, since I didn't have any siblings to play with and my father was distant. The family servants were wonderful, of course, just like family, but I was still lonely. I summoned Aquarius often to play. Every time I took a bath when I was little, and sometimes I would summon her with the water from flower pots. She _hated _when I did that, but I didn't feel so lonely when she was around. Even when she was angry, which was most of the time. I summoned her so often right after Mom died, that it's almost like she never left. She, as you all know, has a _very _bad temper. So maybe it just sort of rubbed off on me after a while."

"That makes since," Erza said.

"It does?"

"Yes, if she was around often when you were so young and impressionable, if you looked up to her, and it sounds to me like you did," I nodded, "then it's possible you unconsciously tried to model yourself after her, her and her foul temper."

"Erza's right," Gray said, "it makes since." I shrugged.

"I guess so. I wonder what she would say if you told her that?" I said.

"She'd probably get angry," Happy suggested sagely. We all burst out laughing.

"What about your other spirits?" Erza asked, "Haven't you had Taurus and Cancer since you were a child as well?"

"Cancer, yes, but I got Taurus's key on my own when I was around 14." I said.

"So did you summon Cancer a lot too?" Wendy asked.

"Oh yah!" I nodded. "Poor Cancer probably had the worse end of the deal really. I summoned him every time I wanted to play dress up!" I giggled behind my hand at the memories. "Cancer was forced to play with me, I'm afraid. Although, I think he enjoyed it, really. When I wanted to be the princess I would have him grow my hair out really long and put on Mom's shoes, which were _way _too big for me. Cancer and I would take turns being the princess and save each other from evil trolls and stuff." Gray and Natsu snickered like boys do at girly games, but Wendy's reaction surprised me.

"So Cancer can regrow cut hair?" She asked, fingering the ends of her short hair.

"Yah, he can, why? Did you want me to ask him to make yours longer?" I asked. I was sort of relieved about it really. I loved Wendy's long hair.

"Would you?" She asked. I nodded, then leaned over Natsu to grab my keys from the side table. Natsu cracked one eye open groggily and peered at me to see what I was doing. But he lost interest and closed his eyes again. I pulled out Cancer's key and summoned him. He appeared in the middle of my living room, brandishing his scissors.

"What can I do for ya' Ebi?" He asked, clicking his scissors.

"Can you regrow Wendy's hair?" I asked.

"Of course, anything for you, Ebi! Just tell me how long you want it, little puffer," he said. ***A/N- I really wanted him to call her something related to the ocean, and I think I read somewhere that ebi means shrimp. I'm not sure, so I decided to play it safe with puffer fish, since Wendy uses Sky Dragon Magic. **

"Can you grow it out to here?" She asked hopefully, indicating the length her hair used to be.

"There's nothing I can't do, little puffer," he said. A flash and a whirl of scissors later Wendy had her old hair back. "Anything else, Ebi?" He asked.

"Erza, Juvia, do you want anything?" They both shook their heads.

"Do you want me to do yours, too, Ebi?" He asked.

"I don't know," I said, "what do you think Natsu?"

"What's wrong with the way it is now?" He asked sleepily.

"Nothing, really, but it's just the same as it has been, a change would be nice," I said.

"So then change it," He said, stifling a yawn.

"You know, Cancer, I think just a few inches longer," I said. A flash and whirl later my hair was tickling my lower back, instead of just below my shoulder blades.

"It looks great Lucy!" Wendy said delightedly.

"Juvia agrees!" She said.

"Indeed," Erza said, "It suits you."

"Brings back memories, huh, Ebi?" Cancer asked, clicking his scissors for emphasis.

"Yeah, actually, I was just telling everyone how we used to play dress up together," I told him.

"Those were some good times, Ebi." Cancer said. I laughed and nodded.

"Yah, they were a lot of fun."

"We should play again sometime, Ebi," he said, clicking his scissors again and striking a dramatic pose.

"I'm a little too old for that," I said.

"You're never too old for fun, Ebi!" He said striking another pose.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said, closing the gate.

"So how's it look Natsu?" I asked, not really expecting an answer.

"It looks fine to me," He said stifling another yawn, and not even looking. I collected all of my hair in my hands and dropped it on his face when I sat back down. He jumped slightly, then sat up, spitting hair out of his mouth.

"What was that for?" He asked indignantly.

"For being a such a boy," I said, and the girls giggled. Natsu and Gray scoffed, though.

Eventually, Natsu laid back down and closed his eyes again, but I knew he was still awake, because he was fiddling absent mindedly with my newly long hair. Maybe he did like it, after all. We talked for a while longer, but when it got dark everyone decided it was time to go. After the others left I turned and looked at Natsu, who was still laying there with his eyes closed. His hand had ceased it's fiddling about half an hour ago, so I assumed he'd fallen asleep.

"Natsu, you're so hopeless, falling asleep in other peoples beds," I said fondly.

"I'm not asleep," he mumbled, startling me. I jumped so hard I fell off the bed and onto the floor. Natsu sat up and looked around for me, but he didn't see me sitting on the floor.

"I'm down here," I said, rubbing my rear painfully. That had _hurt._

"What are you doing down there?" He asked peering over the side of the bed at me.

"I fell when you startled me, Natsu. I'm just glad I didn't fall on my hurt foot again. That would be the third time today I hurt it. I kicked it against the dresser this morning, fell on it when Lyra performed for the dragons, and this would have made three."

"Wow, Lucy," Happy chanted, "you sure are clumsy."

"Shut it, cat," I said, holding my hand out to Natsu. He took it and pulled me to my feet, well foot and I sat back down next to Natsu and leaned my head on his shoulder.

"I had a nice time with your dad today," I told him.

"I'm glad," he said, wrapping his arm around my waist. "I think he likes you."

"I hope so," I said. We sat quietly for a moment before I spoke again. "It's getting late, I should probably get to bed."

"Alright," Natsu said. He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, "I'll be by to pick you up in the morning." He opened the window and climbed onto the window sill, and was about to jump when he seemed to think better of it. "Don't forget to send for me if you have another nightmare!" He said.

"Natsu w-" I said, but he was already gone. I had started to ask him to stay, because I was afraid of being alone, and that I would have another nightmare. I told myself that I was being silly, and not to think about it, but I couldn't shake the nagging feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. Maybe that's what caused it, the nightmare.

"_Traitor." _

_I was running. I had no idea what was before me, but I kept running, running from what was behind me. The Celestial Spirits. They were chasing me, hell bent on revenge. They all seemed to think that I had killed Aquarius, but I didn't. I know I didn't. Loke told me she was alive and well. _

"_Traitor." _

_I tripped and fell over something. A rock or root maybe? I hit the ground hard and rolled. I was rolling down a hill littered with sharp rocks and broken glass, collecting cuts and bruises all along the way. My descent slowed, and I rolled to a halt at the bottom of the hill. I tried to get to my feet, but I couldn't lift myself. My arms collapsed underneath me, and I crashed to the ground again. _

"_Traitor." _

_I tried again to get to my feet, but couldn't. My limbs were too weak, and I couldn't hold myself up. I could hear everyone approaching me. Their footsteps were getting closer, and their voices getting louder, more venomous. _

"_Traitor, traitor." _

_Tears began streaming down my face as the figures loomed out of the darkness around me. I began backing away on the ground, crawling like a helpless child, but I had to get away. I had to find Loke so he could explain to them what happened. They would believe him. Maybe if I willed it hard enough, the Celestial Spirit King would show up like he did that time with Loke. _

"_Who are you going to kill to make that happen this time, traitor?" Virgo spat. _

"_How did you-?" _

"_Celestial Spirits are connected with their, _masters."

_She said the word master as if it were something disgusting she found on the bottom of her shoes. "As if you were ever even worthy to be called that. I know your every thought. You were planning to find _onii-san _and have him try to convince us not to hurt you. Well it's too late now. We've already killed your precious _Loke. _He should never have been allowed to return to our world in the first place. He is a filthy traitor to his kind, just like you." _

"_No!" I cried. Sobs wracked my body uncontrollably now. Loke couldn't be dead, he couldn't be, Not because of me. Not because he was trying to protect me. "No! No! No!" _

"_Yes," Virgo hissed. "Yes, the great lion, supposed leader of the Celestial Spirits is dead! Just Like Aquarius!" Her eyes were glowing red with hate, just like Aquarius's had done when I killed her. _No, _I thought. _That was just a dream!

Or was it? _A nasty voice in my head said. _Maybe that was your reality, and Loke was a dream.

No that can't be! _I told myself. _Or can it?

_I was fighting a battle with myself in my head, but Virgo wasn't about to waste any time in taking her revenge. While I sat there dealing with my inner turmoil she drew her leg back and kicked me, hard, in the face. The blow knocked me back flat on the ground, and pulled a scream from my lips. _

_I rolled over and spat blood on the ground in front of me, Virgo taking the opportunity to kick me hard in the side and send me rolling several feet away. _

"_I didn't kill Aquarius!" I shouted, but my words came out muffled and strange. It would have been nearly impossible to understand what I was saying for all the blood in my mouth. I spat and tried again. "I didn't kill Aquarius!" I shouted. _

"_You lying traitor!" Virgo said. She drew her whip and held it menacingly over her head. "Traitors must die the death of a traitor." The whip in her hand transformed into Taurus's axe. _

"_No, Please!" I cried. Virgo merely cackled, and brought down the axe, her eyes filled with vengeance. _

"No, Virgo!" I cried, sitting straight up in bed. It took me a moment to realize where I was. In bed, in my apartment. I was safe.

I looked around the room, still trying to get my bearings. I had had another nightmare. This one was about Virgo instead of Scorpio. I glanced over at my keys on the table and grimaced. I hadn't spoken with any of them except for Loke since that incident. I knew none of them actually felt that way, but it was hard to keep that in mind when I hadn't seen them.

_I think it's time you summoned Virgo for a talk. _I thought. I reached out and grabbed her key, but hesitated. Did I really want to do this? Even though it was just in a dream, I had just witnessed her try to kill me. Maybe I should just summon Loke again and tell him I had another nightmare. _No, _I told myself. _It has to be Virgo. You Have to get over this ridiculous fear you have of everyone hating you. You know Loke would never hate you, which is why you think of him as safe in your dreams, so you have to start talking with everyone, one by one, and deal with this. I believe Loke when he says no one is mad. Lyra didn't even mention it, and Plue seemed fine, so there is no reason that the others wouldn't feel the same. _

"Open," I said, "Gate of the Maiden, Virgo." A magic circle shone from the ground in front of me, and Virgo appeared there, looking just the same as she always had.

"Is it time for punishment, princess?" She asked, catching me off guard. In my preoccupation I had forgotten about her weird catchphrase.

"What? No, I just wanted to ask you, do you hate me?"

"Why would I hate you, princess?" She asked looking confused. I smiled, relieved. If she was even a little mad at me, then she would have known what I was talking about, but I decided to ask her, just in case.

"For summoning the Celestial Spirit King, I mean? Are you angry with me?"

"No, not for that." She said.

"Then for what?" I asked, taken aback.

"For being so reckless in the midst of battle," she answered, taking me off guard again.

"What?" I asked.

"Summoning three of us, at once, without ever having practiced it, in the middle of battle, after you were already tired too. You shouldn't have risked your life so recklessly. Onii -san and I could have handled it. You could have died."

"That's what you're angry about?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes," she said, looking stern, "That's what I'm mad about." I broke into relieved half sobs half laughs, and threw myself at her, wrapping my arms around her neck. She stood there for a moment, shocked, before she wrapped her arms gently around and returned my embrace.

"Thank you," I whispered as tears trickled out of my eyes, but they were, for a change, tears of joy.

"Princess? Are you feeling alright?" I nodded and pulled away from her to sit back on the bed.

"You know, it made me really happy when you called me 'Lucy' back there, in the battle with Tartarus. You don't have to call me 'princess' all the time."

"I know, Lucy," she said smiling warmly. "I call you princess because you are everything I think a princess should be. You are beautiful, brave, and kind, as well as selfless, and loving, that's all." My eyes filled with tears again as I looked at her. This beautiful, wonderful, crazy spirit who had agreed to make a contract with me. I was truly lucky to have her, to have all of them, by my side as friends and comrades.

How could I ever have doubted Virgo? Sweet and precious Virgo, who was angry at me, not for breaking Aquarius's key, but for risking my life by summoning three Ecliptic Zodiac spirits at once. The crazy spirit who had always teased me and thought that I had a thing for Natsu, and had given us matching clothes once because she thought it would be cute.

"Will there be anything else, princess?" She asked.

"Yah, actually, could you go and get Natsu for me? He asked me to let him know if I had anymore nightmares." Virgo nodded, and, _oh for the love of kami -sama, _opened the window and jumped out.

"Hey, Luce, Virgo said you had a nightmare," Natsu said as he climbed in the window. He was being carried by Happy, and he was carrying, _Virgo. _

"Virgo!" I exclaimed, "you were supposed to go home after you went and got Natsu!" I said.

"I wanted to make sure he got here safely. After all, if you two are going to be _spending the night together-"_

"Go home!" I said, closing the gate before she could finish her sentence.

"You look awfully happy," Natsu said, taking a seat next to me on the bed.

"Yah, I guess I am," I said, smiling serenely.

"So what happened to make you so happy after you had a nightmare? You did have one didn't you, or did Virgo lie?"

"No, Virgo didn't lie, I did, but I summoned her after my nightmare. She killed me, and I decided it was time to confront my fears, so I summoned her."

"And what'd she say?" Natsu asked.

"That she's mad at me," I said, giving him a broad grin.

"So why are you so happy? I thought you were afraid that she would be mad at you," he said looking confused.

"Maybe her brain is broken," Happy suggested, but I ignored him.

"She wasn't mad at me for summoning the Celestial Spirit King, she was mad at me for summoning Aquarius when I already had both her and Loke's gates open. She was mad at me for opening three gates at once, and risking my life!"

"Wait, you summoned three Zodiac Spirits at once? That's amazing!" He said, looking impressed. I pushed the complement to the side and took hold of his hands.

"Don't you see though, if she was only mad at me for risking my life and not for breaking the key, then I don't think anyone else would be either! I mean, Loke said so, but he's different, he's a member of Fairy Tail on his own, so I kind of thought he was just telling me what I wanted to hear."

Natsu nodded his understanding and smiled at me. "I'm glad that you're happy." He said, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me in for a hug. I leaned into his embrace and closed my eyes, enjoying Natsu's warmth.

When I opened my eyes next it was light outside. _I must've fallen asleep, _I thought. I groaned and buried my face in my pillow, except that it wasn't my pillow. It was radiating a comforting heat that surrounded me and made me feel safe. I opened my eyes and tilted my head upwards. _Natsu. _We were laying sprawled across the bed, our limbs tangled together. My head was pillowed on his chest, and his arms were wrapped tightly around my waist.

_We must have fallen asleep last night while we were hugging, _I thought. I lifted my head slightly and looked around. Happy was asleep at the foot of the bed, using a corner of the quilt as a pillow. The rest of the quilt had been thrown haphazardly over my and Natsu's legs. He must have thrown the blankets over us so we wouldn't get cold. I looked back at Natsu's sleeping face, and blushed furiously.

_Oh my gosh, _I thought, _Virgo was right! We did spend the night together! _I turned my face away from him, that way if he happened to wake up he wouldn't see how red my face was. _I can't believe we spent the night together!_ Natsu groaned in his sleep, and pulled me closer to him. I could feel myself blushing even harder.

"Lucy," he said. _Oh my gosh! He said my name in his sleep! _

I hid my face in his shirt, then realized what I was doing, and turned my head so I was facing the window. _He smells nice, _I thought. I blushed again, and turned my face away from the window.

"Lucy, you sure move around a lot," Natsu said sleepily, making me jump.

"Natsu, you're awake!" I said nervously.

"Yah," he said.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked, averting my face so he couldn't see my blush.

"For about an hour," He said, yawning.

"And you didn't wake me up?" I asked indignantly, embarrassed at the thought that Natsu had been up for an hour, holding me. Just thinking of it made my cheeks even hotter.

"You were sleeping," he said, "I didn't want to wake you up." He glanced down, grinning. "I've never seen you turn that color."

"Ahh, get off me!" I cried, sitting up quickly.

"What's the matter with you, Luce?" He said, sitting up too.

"You were up for an hour while I was asleep, with- with your arms wrapped around me!?" I asked.

"Yah, I didn't want to wake you up." He repeated.

"Well, I guess that's sweet," I replied reluctantly. Natsu laid back down and slung one of his arms over his eyes.

"I'm going back to bed," he stated. I sighed, and looked at him. His breathing evened out and he stopped squirming. I glanced out of the window, and seeing that the sun was barely even up yet, so I sighed, and laid back down with him. Blushing furiously, I laid my head on his chest and closed my eyes again. Natsu wrapped his other arm around my waist and pulled me closer, making my heart stutter in my chest nervously.

We snoozed for about an hour more, before I finally got up, saying I needed to take a bath.

"Mmhmnunmmmnmhmn," Natsu grumbled. He rolled over and buried his head in my pillow, mumbling sleepily still.

As I turned the handle and hot water began gushing out of the faucet, my thoughts strayed to Aquarius. I had often summoned her as a child when I was taking baths, because I was so lonely. I smiled warmly as I thought of the sleeping dragon slayer outside in my bed. With him around I would never have to be lonely again. I peeled of my pajamas and tossed them into a corner, stepping into the steaming water.

I sank down in the tub until my nose touched the surface of the water, and closed my eyes. Of course, when I summoned Aquarius at my mansion, the baths had been much bigger, about the size of the swimming pool in the guild hall, plenty of room to swim and play with a celestial spirit. Not that Aquarius ever played, but that had been alright with me. Having her around had almost been like having a piece of my mother back. She had been one of Mom's spirits after all.

I thought back to the fight with Tartarus, when I had maintained three Golden Gates at once. Would I be able to do it again? Had I only been able to do it because I had been so desperate? Virgo and Loke would disapprove, I know, but what had it been that Aquarius had said, just before she told me to break her key?

"_If you are powerful enough to summon three of us at once, I know you can do it." _Aquarius had seemed to believe in my power. Surely if I could summon her and ask, she would tell me I should be training my powers, learning to summon three spirits at once and not pass out like I had then.

When I opened my eyes back then, Aquarius was supporting me against her tail, with her hand on my shoulder in an almost _motherly _gesture. I knew that she had loved me, she must have, deep down. I could tell it sometimes when she would talk to me, a hidden softness in her eyes, behind the anger in her face. The waves had fanned out around us, so that we were surrounded by a wall of water.

That sometimes happened when I summoned her, but the waves were taller that time, it seemed. Maybe it just seemed that way though, because I was on the ground. The waves had done that too, when I stood up after the Celestial Spirit King left. The power rushing through me had felt so familiar, just like her.

A cold breeze blew through the bathroom and made me shiver. _That's weird, _I thought, _the water shouldn't be cold yet. _I opened my eyes, and gasped in shock. The water was arching up into waves that towered over my head, waves that were _exactly _like the ones that Aquarius caused when I summoned her. There was only about two inches of water left on the bottom of the tub, and I was just sitting there completely surrounded by a wall of water.

_What's happening? _I wondered. _Am I channeling her powers? _

"Natsu!" I called, stepping out of the tub, and watching as the water splashed down into the tub and sloshed over the edges. "Natsu come here." I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself as the door opened, and Natsu peered around sleepily, likely wondering what I wanted him in here for.

"What's the matter, Luce?" He asked, stifling a yawn.

"Watch this," I said, extending one of my hands towards the tub and closing my eyes in concentration. I thought back to how I was feeling in the tub. I had been thinking about Aquarius, and had felt like I was surrounded by her essence. I focused on that feeling.

"Uh, Lucy, nothin's happenin'," he said.

"Maybe she's finally lost it," Happy said, walking in behind Natsu.

"Shhh."

I summoned forth the feeling of Aquarius surrounding me, and focused my magic, directing it, and the feeling, at the water. I heard a whooshing, trickling sort of sound, and Natsu gasped.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" He asked, impressed. It shattered my concentration and sent the water crashing back down into the tub and over the tiles.

"I'm not sure, it just sort of happened. Right after I broke Aquarius's key, after the Celestial Spirit King left, I got up and the water on the ground around me just sort of rose up and created a wall. It felt so familiar, like her. It happened again just now, when I was thinking of her. I think I'm channeling her powers, unconsciously. I think it happens when I'm thinking of her."

Natsu looked thoughtfully at the water for a while before replying.

"But you were thinking about her last night, and nothing happened," he said. I blinked, surprised.

"You're right," I replied, recalling. "I was telling all those stories about how we used to play together, and nothing happened. No rushing of water, no whooshing, nothing."

"So why now and not then?" He asked.

I thought hard back to last night when everyone was over. I was talking about Aquarius, then we had veered off topic and I had summoned Cancer. Nothing weird happened.

"Maybe because there wasn't any water?" Happy offered sleepily.

"That's it!" I exclaimed. "There wasn't any water for me to accidentally control!"

"Hmm," Natsu said, fixing me with an appraising stare. I blushed and squirmed uncomfortably, remembering suddenly I was wearing only a bath towel.

"What?" I said, adjusting my towel.

"You said accidentally just now."

"Yah," I said, unsure of where this was going.

"But you just did it on purpose."

"Yah, so what?" I asked.

"So maybe you could learn to control it." I looked at him, taken aback.

"Control it?" I asked, unsure.

"Yeah, you did it just now, so why not learn to master it, or at least get a little better at it. It could be useful."

"But how could I learn to do that?" I asked.

"You could ask Crux, or Juvia," he said.

"That's true, I bet Juvia would help me."

"You'll see her today at the guild, so ask her to tutor you." Natsu said, walking out. "Get some clothes on and we'll go." He said, and I blushed furiously. I had completely forgotten, again, that I was naked.

***A/N- So how'd you guys like this chapter? Be sure to let me know in the comment section! I do hope you are enjoying this, because I'm enjoying writing it. I might not have as much free time as I used too to write chapters. I'll do my best, just be sure to keep reviewing that way I don't forget people actually read this! (That might sound like I'm trying to solicit reviews but I'm not. That really happens to me. Check out my other chapter story, **_**Filling the Void, **_**I loved it when I started it, but I got two chapters in, didn't get any reviews, and forgot all about it. I'll come back to it someday.)**

**Until next time!**


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